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AMERICAN EDUCATION SERIES 
GEORGE DRAYTON STRAYER. GENERAL EDITOR 



AMERICAN EDUCATION SERIES 
GEORGE DRAYTON STRAYER. GENERAL EDITOR 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING 

IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



BY 
MARVIN S. PITTMAN, PH.D. 

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION, 

MICHIGAN STATE NORMAL COLLEGE, 

YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 

BOSTON ATLANTA 






Copyright, 1922, by 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



PITXMAN— SUCCESSrUI. TEACHING 

MADE IN U.S.A. 

E.F.I 



0)C!.A6o4759 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

If our American public school system is to provide 
adequately for the education of all boys and girls, the 
rural schools of the United States must be improved. It 
is important in the consideration of this problem that we 
discuss methods of finance and of administration. It is 
even more important that well-trained teachers be placed 
in every classroom, and that those already at work in 
rural schools grow increasingly more efficient. 

In this volume the author has presented to rural school- 
teachers a record of achievement by a group of rural 
school-teachers which is not only enlightening but in- 
spiring. The book could not have been written by one 
who approached the problem as a theorist. It is out of 
a rich experience in achieving the ideals set forth, that Dr. 
Pittman has written to the rural school-teachers of the 
United States. 

''Successful Teaching in Rural Schools" meets the 
standard set for the American Education Series because 
it contributes directly to the improvement of the practice 
of those who work in rural schools. It is confessedly a 
book which grows out of the optimism and enthusiasm 
of one who has found it possible to help rural school- 
teachers to achieve success. 

The author has most fortunately used the letter written 
by one teacher to another as the form of presenting his 
contribution. The genuineness of the problems which are 
discussed and the reality of the solutions proposed could 

S 



6 editor's introduction 

not have been so well expressed had the author followed 
the usual topical method of discussion. The references 
which are given and the questions which are offered for 
discussion make the book most available for courses on 
rural school problems in teacher-training institutions or 
for the courses organized under the direction of state 
reading circles. 

George D. Strayer 



PREFACE 

The story which follows is a description of an experi- 
ment in which an attempt was made to apply present day 
educational theory and scientific educational principles 
and technique to the most difficult American educational 
situation — the one-teacher rural school. The story is 
based upon fact. Only enough hberty has been taken with 
the facts to fill out a fairly general treatment of elementary 
education as it is apphed by the classroom teacher. The 
hope of the author is that he may transmit to other chil- 
dren, parents, and teachers the spirit of the children, 
parents, and teachers of the fifteen rural schools which 
made this story possible. 

The author is indebted to so many people for their 
contributions to this book that no attempt will be made 
to name them. Many of them appear, in spirit, in the 
story. I shall leave the reader to thank them when they 
make their contribution to his life as they have to mine. 

The author and the publishers wish to acknowledge 
their obUgation to Mr. Henry Holcomb Bennett for per- 
mission to use his copyright poem, "The Flag Goes By," 
as the basis of a demonstration lesson. M. S. P. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Martha Sets her House in Order and Philos- 
ophizes ON THE Needs of Rural Schools . ii 
II. Martha's Prayer is Answered but She Is 

Frightened by the Answer 17 

III. The Professor Appears at Martha's School . 20 

IV. JVIartha Discovers the Practical Value of 

Theoretical Tests 27 

V. Preparation for the Teachers' Meeting . . 37 
VI. The Teachers' Club Proves Itself a Working 

Organization 46 

VII. Mr. Moore Writes about How to Avoid 

Disciplinary Difficulties in the School . 68 
VIII. Language Holds the Center of the Stage . 78 
IX. The History and Civics Committee Make a 

Report 91 

X. Community Teamwork no 

XL A New Type of Spelling Match Occurs at 

Warren 120 

XII. Martha Delves into the Project Method. . 130 

XIII. Martha ]\Iakes Discoveries about Improve- 

ments in Arithmetic 149 

XIV. The Children Study Geography from the An- 

gle OF Their Own Homes 158 

XV. Martha has a Penmanship Revival in Her 

School 174 

XVI. Martha Rejoices over Oral Reading Work . 182 

XVII. Teaching a Poem 188 

XVIII. The Committee on Agriculture Tell How 

They Are Teaching It 200 

XIX. The Community Organizes 214 

XX. "Health and Happiness" Hold Full Sway. . 223 

9 



lO CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXI. What the Hygiene Committee Said .... 234 

XXII. Spelling and the Forming of Habits . . . 245 

XXIII. Martha Tells of the Newspaper — The Zone 

Pacemaker 253 

XXIV. What is Supervision Worth? ...... 265 

XXV. The Position Seeks the Man 284 



CHAPTER I 

MARTHA SETS HER HOUSE IN ORDER AND PHILOSOPHIZES 
ON THE NEEDS OF THE RURAL SCHOOLS 

September 3 
Dear Hilda: 

Here I am once more back at old Rondell. For the 
third time the early September days have found me setting 
my house in order. It is no small task either, for during 
the summer season a Mid-Western rural school building 
serves a variety of purposes. Roving harvest hands find 
it the oasis in the desert. The secret councils of the Royal 
Order of Boy Errantry hold their midnight conclaves 
there. Such of the animal kingdom as desire a temporary 
shelter find there a convenient place of refuge. 

Mr. Inkle was at the schoolhouse this morning and 
mowed the yard. This afternoon some of the children and 
I scoured the floor, dusted the pictures, arranged the books 
in the bookcase and hung the curtains. Mrs. Worthy 
had laundered them for us during the summer. We did 
a few other things to make the place habitable when we 
return to our school work next Monday morning. 

I had two pleasant surprises when I got back yesterday. 
The first was that the school board had decided to have 
nine months of school this year instead of eight for which 
I had contracted at the close of the term last spring. The 
second was that my salary had been raised from eighty to 
one hundred dollars per month. What do you think of 



12 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



that? When I heard it, I almost fainted from surprise. 
When I asked why they did it, Mr. Inkle said that the 
farmers had had to raise the salary of the harvest hands 
twenty-five per cent during the season and that the board 
thought that I was a pretty good harvest hand. He said 
the children of the community are the finest crop that the 
community grows. "Besides," he said, "I understand 




MARTHA AND HILDA WORKING ON THE COOK CAR 



that you have been pulling down a hundred dollars per 
month ever since the close of school as chief cook for a 
threshing crew. We thought if you are worth a hundred 
dollars as a cook for fifteen men, you ought to be worth 
as much as teacher and part-time cook for fifteen children. 
I am sure you work as hard in the winter as you do in the 
summer." 

That sort of attitude on the part of the school board 
causes me to want to continue to be a teacher. There are 
some things, though, Hilda, that make me want to 
*' chuck the job and take to a cook car for keeps." It is 
not the lack of pay or the absence of a sort of appreciation. 



MARTHA SETS HER HOUSE IN ORDER I3 

It is the absence of professional companionship, contact, 
and inspiration. 

You and I had lots of fun this summer planning our 
meals even though there was a very narrow menu possible. 
The difficulty actually added to the interest of the task- 
Planning the meal with you and then watching the effect 
of it on the men was worth almost as much to me as the 
hundred dollars that I received. I enjoyed the work and 
forgot the pay. That is what I need in the school work — 
someone to help me plan, someone to inspire my plan, 
someone to appreciate, in an intelligent manner, the 
things that I plan and perform. I do not want, merely, 
general, bhnd appreciation. I want appreciation of par- 
ticular planning and performing. 

Last summer I looked forward to the meals at which 
we had cream cake, with almost as much enthusiasm as 
did old red Ole Hanson himself for I knew how much he 
would appreciate that meal. It was always a joy to serve 
wieners and sauerkraut to Fritzie Reitz, macaroni and 
cheese to Rafael Spataro, and hot biscuits and molasses to 
old long "Alabam" Smith, for I knew that it would make 
each one feel that he was at home once again. If each one, 
when his home dish was served, said: ''Miss Martha, 
this is just like mother used to make," then I knew that 
as a cook I had "arrived," for each of them was an in- 
telligent critic of his own home dish. Would that we 
had intelligent critics in the school work, who have an 
appetite for good teaching as those boys had for good 
food, and who have human qualities that have lost noth- 
ing by being transported from the dinner table to the 
schoolroom. 

Successful T— 2 



14 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The trouble with this rural school work in the Middle 
West — and in the whole country, if I am any judge — is 
that the teachers are too far apart for companionship. 
To begin with, we are usually a lot of high school girls 
who are blessed chiefly with youth, romantic notions, and 
a desire for companionship. We are very plastic, capable 
of being made or marred very easily and very quickly. 
If we meet the right influences, we become socially useful 
and personally noble; if we meet the wrong influences, too 
many of us, socially and personally, wither and die. 

About the only social life we have out here is the barn 
dance and that, according to my observation, is not the 
sort of atmosphere in which great teachers grow. 

I do not know, but it seems to me that if we had some 
one who would organize these rural teachers into little 
social, educational groups, in which they would do some 
educational planning and performing, and some plain, 
ordinary, wholesome playing of a sort that young teachers, 
considered as young human beings, would enjoy, it might 
change the whole rural educational and social situation. 
I do not know how it could be done. It is very presump- 
tuous in me, certainly, to be even talking about it when 
all of the big educators, from Theodore Roosevelt and his 
Country Life Commission down to the county superintend- 
ents of the country, have been devoting themselves to 
this problem ever since 1907. But, presumptuous or not, 
I think I have some ideas about it. I believe that one of 
the troubles is that too much of the country life work 
has been done from afar — New York City, Washington, 
and at our national, state, and county educational meet- 
ings. Too much of it has been on paper and too little on 



MARTHA SETS HER HOUSE IN ORDER 1 5 

the soil. Too much has been big talk about it. We need 
some one actually to do something about it. 

Doubtless, Hilda, you think by this time that I am 
trying to get you to turn educational reformer and do 
the impossible. . Well, if you should happen to have a plan, 
suppose you quietly put it to the test. If it works, then 
tell the world about it. That would be an interesting 
change in educational practice. 

Gloriously gloomy, 

Martha 



HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Should country school buildings and grounds have a care- 
taker during the summer months to prevent vandalism and to 
keep them in such condition that they would be a community 
pride? What would it cost in money? What would it be worth in 
rural ideals? 

2. What should be the ratio between the salaries of teachers 
and the salaries of other people employed in a community in 
order to encourage efficient people to engage in teaching? 

3. What may be done to keep rural school boards abreast with 
the times? Could the county superintendent help? How? 

4. Is it true that intelligent appreciation is the thing most 
needed to inspire teachers to professional growth and to efficient 
service? 

5. How can teachers be grouped in my county so that we may 
have enough in each group for effective work and so that our 
interests would be the same? 

6. How can a social aspect be added to a teachers' meeting 
so that teachers wiU feel socially delighted as well as professionally 
edified? 

7. What was the Country Life Commission? What did the 
Country Life Commission find? What did it recommend? 



l6 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

8. Is Martha correct in her statement that too many of the 
rural solutions are paper solutions? What can we rural teachers 
do to change this situation? 

9. Why does Martha suggest that I work my plan before I tell 
about it? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Teachers' Salaries and Salary Schedules — National Education 
Association Bulletin, Series No. 6— Dr. E. S. Evenden. 

Report of the Country Life Commission — Roosevelt. 

The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee. Chap- 
ter IV. 

Rural Life and the Rural School — Kennedy. Chapters IV, V, VII. 



CHAPTER II 

Martha's prayer is answered but she is frightened 

BY the answer 

September lo 
Dear Hilda: 

Your letter with a boost in it came yesterday. You 
were always a confirmed optimist. Last summer when I 
sometimes let the bread, the pie crust, or the bacon burn, 
you would console me by saying that the men liked it 
better that way and that, furthermore, charcoal was good 
for digestion. So, here your letter comes saying that since 
I see the rural school situation as I do, you believe I shall 
have an opportunity to see my hopes realized. You must 
be the daughter of a prophet, for just to-day I have a 
letter from Miss Gallop, our county superintendent, say- 
ing that a gentleman is coming out here from a big Uni- 
versity to put on a test demonstration in rural school 
supervision and that she has designated my school as one 
of fifteen in the demonstration. 

Bang! Kerplunk! Just like that! Out of a clear sky 
this educational thunderbolt has fallen. So, I suppose it 
is up to me to play the game or cease my criticism. I 
have been talking about the work being done from afar, 
but now it has come uncomfortably near and so suddenly 
that it has taken my breath. 

The very thought of this, Hilda, gives me mingled feel- 
ings of thrill and chill; thrill because of the possibility 

17 



l8 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

and chill because of the fear of failure. He is coming from 
the Teachers College of the University. I have a mental 
picture of him now — tall, bald-headed, spectacled, and 
effeminate. In one hand he has an umbrella and in the 
other a thesis bag filled with a lot of theoretical tests. He 
will talk in long psychological terms that no one but an 
encyclopedia can understand. That theoretical, psycho- 
logical stuff may be all right, I don't know much about it. 
Miss Bengston used to tell us something about it in our 
teachers' training class at the high school. Yes, it may be 
all right, but I believe that what these rural teachers and 
rural folks need above everything else, is a real human 
being to associate with them and get them to associate 
with each other. They don't need to be tested to find out 
where they are. They need to be boosted to where they 
should be. Everybody knows that the rural educational 
and social situation is in a bad condition; so, why have a 
lot of statistics to prove it? We admit it without proof. 
Besides, for my part, I am not sure just how much thrill 
or honor will result from being one of a group of teachers, 
and having my school one of a group of schools to prove 
how much better eastern teachers and eastern schools 
are than are the rural teachers and rural schools on the 
prairies of the Middle West. 

So, you see, Hilda, now that we have, in a way, what in my 
last letter I said we need, I am squirming like a fish in the fry. 
I am doing so because I have my fears and my doubts. I 
fear that this supervision will be just a dry, dehumanized, 
" high-browish " sort of inspection. I doubt that anything 
that is really close down to the earth where real people 
actually live could come out of a big fossilized university. 



Martha's prayer is answered 19 

There is another thing that gives me a chill. I have an 
image now of that aforesaid spectacled gentleman sitting 
in one corner of my schoolroom, with notebook and 
pencil in hand, writing down how many questions I ask 
during one fifteen-minute lesson period, how many times 
I call the child's name before I ask the question and not- 
ing all of the other pedagogical and grammatical crimes 
of which I am guilty. I always have a chill at the very 
thought of the annual visit of the county superintendent, 
good and sympathetic as I know her to be. Therefore, 
what shall I do in the presence of a grim ogre like this 
spectacled professor from a dry-as-dust university? 

If you never hear from me again, you may know that I 
have fallen dead with heart failure on the occasion of his 
first inspection. Quiveringly curious as to what the results 
of the demonstration will be, I am, 

Devotedly, 

Martha 
HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Why does Martha think that universities are "dry as dust" 
and "fossilized?" Are they, or she, or someone else responsible for 
this idea? 

2. I wonder how I would feel if a college professor were to come 
and sit in my schoolroom and watch my teaching and write down 
what I said and did? I wonder if the purpose for which he would 
be observing would make any difference in my feelings? 

3. What should be the qualities of a supervisor in order that 
he might be of greatest service to his teachers and to the people 
whom he served? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer Her Questions: 
Rural Life and Education — Cubberley. Chapter XII. 
Rural Life and The Rural School — Kennedy. Chapter XI. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PROFESSOR APPEARS AT MARTHA's SCHOOL 

September 27 
Dear Hilda: 

He has been here. By "he" I mean Mr. William Hoppes 
Moore, the supervisor of whom I wrote you in my last 
letter with such quivering curiosity and mortal dread. 
Sure enough he came with a thesis bag filled with Standard- 
ized Tests but he did not have an umbrella, a bald head, 
spectacles, or an effeminate manner. He is a real human 
being with a smile that wins, a hand shake that one remem- 
bers, and a businesslike manner that does not keep one 
guessing very long what his purpose is. 

He spent the entire morning with us testing the children 
in reading, arithmetic, spelling, composition, and pen- 
manship. I thought the children would be dreadfully 
bored by the tests but they were not. Usually they dread 
examinations as if they were a great malady but to-day 
Mr. Moore made a sort of game out of them. He told the 
children, also, that next May he would give them another 
test to see how much they grow during the year. This de- 
lighted them very much. They are always measuring to 
see how much they have grown, and weighing to see how 
much they have gained. This idea of testing them to see 
how much their brains grow amused them greatly. Already 
they are beginning to speculate on how much they can 
grow in arithmetic in one year. I never before saw chil- 

20 



THE PROFESSOR AT MARTHA 's SCHOOL 21 

dren wishing for an examination a year before it happens 
but that is exactly what they are doing to-night. 

You see, Hilda, how quickly one's outlook on Hfe can 
change from pessimism and dread to optimism and joy. 
The grim ogre existed only in my overstimulated brain. 
The university which I thought could be only "dry" and 
"fossilized" has sent forth a very live human being who 
laughs, plays, and works just like other people who have 
never spent a day on a university campus. I suppose, 
after all, it is the person that counts, and not the place 
from which he comes. 

From this you will see that my faith in the possibilities of 
the experiment has changed. Not only was I joyfully 
disappointed in the appearance and manner of the super- 
visor but I was also greatly relieved over the nature of the 
Standardized Tests. I had feared that they would be 
so academic that they would prove of little help to us and 
that I would be unable to understand them. They do not 
seem so difficult. My opportunity to study them was very 
limited this morning. I shall reserve final judgment on 
them until I see more of the effects. One thing is certain: 
My children are longing for the time to come for them to 
take those tests again. That is worth something in itself. 

There is one other thing that causes me hopefully to 
beheve that the demonstration may prove a success and 
really do some good — that is, the arrangement of the 
schools in the Demonstration District. Miss Gallop had 
planned to have fifteen schools selected from various parts 
of the count3^ but since Mr. Moore has arrived he has 
changed the plan. He has selected the schools south of 
Amberville which lie in the vicinity of Warren. He did 



22 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

not select only the good schools where the people are 
intelligent and progressive, the teachers ambitious and 
well trained, and the buildings convenient and attractive. 
He has taken the schools just as they came — good, bad 
and indifferent. I believe this the better plan. 

One of the troubles in the past has been that in matters 
educational, we have been giving only to those who already 
had and not giving to everyone according to his needs — 
to speak somewhat in Sunday-school terms. Of course, I 
know that we can make a fine hog out of a well-bred pig, 
a better teacher and school out of a good teacher and 
good school — but what of the poor teacher and the poor 
school? They are in the great majority in the rural sec- 
tions of America, and it is about them that I am most con- 
cerned. They are the people that need some demonstrating 
done with them. 

We need some Moses to rise up in those particular sec- 
tions of the country where tenant ideals prevail and lead 
the people to the promised land of better educational, 
economic and social ideals. We do not want these Moseses 
to lead the people OUT of the land but to lead them while 
ON the land. 

Many of the farmers of the Middle West (and of America) 
do not live on the land. They have a country farm but a 
town residence. Many of our farmers who do not own 
the land they till, have only one-year plans, except in so 
far as they plan to move every year. The result of these 
two farm facts is a decadent, short-sighted social program 
for the rural districts. 

To make bad matters worse, our teachers are of the 
same type — they have only one-year plans. I asked Mr. 



THE PROFESSOR AT MARTHA S SCHOOL 23 

Moore to-day how many of the teachers in his demon- 
stration group had taught the same school last year which 
they are to teach this. He said that he had investigated 
that point immediately after deciding upon this group 
of schools and found that there are only two out of the 
fifteen. That looks pretty bad for the teaching profession, 
don't you think so, Hilda? If we teachers are the persons 
who are to create and inspire the social ideals of the nation, 
what will those ideals be? If annual change is to be the 
great social lesson we teach, surely America will soon be 
a nation of nomads. 

The main reason why I am glad that Mr. Moore has 
decided on this arrangement of his schools instead of the 
other, is, that in this plan, the teachers can get together. 
He tells me that he plans for monthly meetings in the 
Demonstration Zone (that is what he calls the group of 
schools) which all of the teachers will attend. It is not 
more than twelve miles from the farthest school on one 
side of the district to the most remote school on the other 
side. This, you see, Hilda, will bring together neighboring 
teachers who have common situations and common 
problems and therefore common interests. Whatever is 
done that will interest and help one of them will interest 
and help all. 

The greatest weakness of our big county teachers' 
institutes is that there are so many teachers present who 
represent such different geographical and pedagogical 
situations, that a common interest and a common problem 
are practically impossible. In such a big teachers' meeting 
it is practically impossible for a speaker to be definite for 
fear of being tiresome. If he is general in his work, it is 



24 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

profitless to all. The best thing about a small group, such 
as ours will be, is that it represents one type of school and 
one topographical area, and the group will be small enough 
for all to be able to take a REAL part in the meeting. I 
always enjoyed hearing you talk, Hilda, but I get more 
fun out of it when you talk in response to one of my ques- 
tions or gibes. I enjoy some speeches that grapho- 
phones make but chiefly because they are not over two 
minutes in length. I would die of tongue paralysis and 
brain indigestion if I had to listen to one of them for forty 
minutes or an hour. That's what I have often come near 
doing at county institutes. When this one-sided talk-fest 
is continued for three days or a week, I fall into a stupor 
and save my life by mental hibernation, or else I turn 
Bolshevist and want to revolutionize the whole institute 
scheme. I believe that there should be written over the 
door of every place where a teachers' meeting is held — 
"Equality, Fraternity, Participation." 

This ideal cannot well be realized where the crowd is 
too large. You cannot have equality where the teaching 
situations are unHke, where the professional equipments 
are very dissimilar or unequal, and where the purposes 
of the teachers are too divergent. 

Fraternity is based upon consciousness of kind. "Birds 
of a feather flock together," and where the feathers are 
not alike and where there is no consciousness of kind, 
"fraternity" is impossible. 

Even more important in the teachers' meeting than 
"equality" or "fraternity" is "participation." At too 
many of our institutes the instructors do all the work. 
During the first hours of the meeting, the teachers sit 



THE PROFESSOR AT MARTHA S SCHOOL 25 

and think, and after that they only sit. To make an in- 
stitute really of value to the teachers, there must be some 
opportunity for expression whenever there is a real im- 
pression. In an institute, I believe that discussion is far 
better than addresses, and doing, far better than talking. 

You see, Hilda, all that I need is a soap box in order to 
be entitled to a prison sentence, or to be worthy of deporta- 
tion. But I am not so bad or so discouraged as I sound. 
I am far more happy educationally than I have been for 
more than a year. I used to think about this matter but 
I saw no way out. I was in the intellectual brush and saw 
no clearing ahead, but since meeting Mr. Moore to-day, 
hearing a bit of his hopes and plans, watching him work 
and seeing him play, — I say, since then, I am all buoyed 
up with hope. I see a path in the forest that seems to 
grow wider as it advances. I believe it will lead out to 
valleys green and waters clear, where people don't camp 
but where they live; where teachers live at the same place 
in which they labor; where good schools are made better; 
and more important still, where poor schools are made 
good, and where the school is the center of the com- 
munity's activities and the teachers are the community's 
priests and prophets as well as the community's obedient 
slaves. 

Joyously disappointed, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. What are Standardized Tests? How do they differ from 
other tests? Would it be a good plan to test every school at the 
beginning and at the end of each year in some way that would 



26 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

really show how much the children have advanced in a subject 
during the year? I wonder if a Standardized Test will show 
that? If it will, I am for it. I cannot tell that, by the tests which 
I give. 

2. What is the geographical organization of the schools near 
mine which would be most satisfactory for forming such a group 
as Martha has? 

3. Is there a Moses in our county that could lead us, education- 
ally, to a Promised Land? Is it necessary to get one from a foreign 
land or have we one among us to take that place? How was the 
real Moses prepared to lead? Is preparation necessary? What 
preparation? Would we, like the children of Israel, distrust our 
leadership and long for the "old way" when difficulties arise? 

4. Why do rural teachers change their positions so often? Is 
the situation in our county as bad as it appears to be where Martha 
works? 

5. What is the prime purpose of the teachers' institute? Does 
our institute accomplish that aim? What plan could be sub- 
stituted that would provide the desired results without causing 
other disadvantages greater than those we now have? Should 
every teacher actually participate in the work of the institute? 

6. Is it important that the rural teacher live where he or she 
teaches? What are the advantages? the disadvantages? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Measuring the Results of Teaching — Monroe. Chapters I and XL 
The Value of School Supervision — Pittman. Chapters I, IV, VIII. 
Educational Tests and Measurements — Monroe, DeVoss and 

Kelly. Chapters I and XL 
Rural Life and the Rural School — Kennedy. Chapter XIII. 
Our Public Schools — Corson. Chapters V and VII. 



CHAPTER IV 

MARTHA DISCOVERS THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF 
THEORETICAL TESTS 

October 3 
Dear Hilda: 

To-day we, the teachers of the Demonstration District, 
met in Warren and held our first meeting. At the begin- 
ning Mr. Moore made a Httle talk — not a speech — tehing 
us what he wanted to do this year and that he wanted us 
to help him. He wants to see what a group of rural teach- 
ers can do in one year toward improving the quality of 
the school work — the quality to be determined at the 
beginning and again at the end. In order to make the 
idea plain to us he brought along the reading papers of 
the tests that he recently gave in our schools. We devoted 
the morning to grading these papers. 

Possibly you have never seen any of these papers. I 
never had until they were used in my school. The test 
paper is of this sort: It contains a little story which the 
children read silently. All of the children taking the test, 
begin on a signal and stop on a signal. They read for 
three minutes. Every half minute as the reading proceeds, 
the person who is directing the test says "Mark." By 
means of these marks the speed at which the child reads, 
the number of words he reads per minute, is determined. 
These are the rates at which children should read accord- 
ing to the grades of the school, beginning with the third. 

27 



26 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth 

113 14s 168 191 228 240 

I never knew this until this morning. I did not know- 
that there was a STANDARD rate at which children 
should read corresponding to the grade in which they 
happened to be. I was dumbfounded to find that my 
pupils were reading only about half as fast as they should. 
I always thought that I was born a little short, and now 
I can see that all of the teachers that I have ever had, so 
taught that they have perpetuated that shortness. 

The little story which the children read had questions 
asked about it, all of which could be answered by "Yes" 
or "No." We found that the children were slow in answer- 
ing these questions just as they were in reading the lines. 
Now, if a child misses one of these questions, answers it 
incorrectly, instead of missing one question he has really 
missed two, for you see, Hilda, he could shut his eyes and 
write "Yes" after every question and still get half of them 
right since there are as many "yes" questions as there 
are "no" questions. If he answers fifty out of one hun- 
dred such questions, it does not mean that he under- 
stands half of it but that he does not understand any of 
it — it is all guess work. 

I am enclosing a sample copy of the Courtis Reading 
Test. To me the most interesting discovery of the day 
was the fact that those children who read quite rapidly 
were the children who also read well, that is, who under- 
stood what they read. They could answer the questions 
correctly. Mr. Moore says that this is usually true in 
all types of work — fast workers are the more accurate 
workers. 



THE VALUE OF THEORETICAL TESTS 29 

That was a brand new thought to me. My teachers used 
to say: "Martha, read more slowly. You cannot under- 
stand what you are reading when you go so fast." I have 
been saying the same things to my children ever since I've 
been teaching. So, you see, Hilda, what great injustice 
and irreparable damage a teacher can do to a' child 
simply because she does not know, even though she 
may care ever so much. The barbarian mother loves 
her children but that does not save the child from the 
ignorance of the mother's act. I am now convinced that 
love alone, important as it is, will not make a successful 
school. 

I wrote you recently that I would reserve my judgment 
on the ''theoretical tests" until later. Well, my suspicions 
are all gone. My judgment is made up now; I saw some 
reading truths more clearly this morning, as a result of 
two hours of grading those Standard Tests, than I have 
ever been able to see them as a result of all of my experience 
in teaching the subject. Long before we got through grad- 
ing the papers and before Mr. Moore got through finding 
what he called the "Median" (the grade of the middle 
child of each group) I say, long before that, I could hear 
the teachers saying: "Well, what do you think of that?" 
"Well, I'll be blessed if this isn't interesting!" "Who 
would have thought it!" "What shall we do about it?" 
"How can we make the children read more rapidly and 
more understandingly?" and such other questions of 
surprise and of appeal for professional help. 

When we were through grading and Mr. Moore had 
worked out all of the "Medians" and compared them 
with the "Standards" — that is what the children should 

Successful T — 3 



30 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

be able to do — then he said: "Teachers, do you see our 
problem?" Everyone did. 

Then he said: "How many of you want to join a group 
to see what we can do about it? I have selected you 
and your schools purely on the basis of convenience but 
I don't want you in the group unless you really want to be, 
unless you are really interested in the problem. This work 
will not raise your salary. It will probably increase your 
expenses, if you attend all of the teachers' meetings as 
you should, in order to get the most out of the work. It 
will test your purpose and your pluck to get to these 
meetings on cold days and with bad roads. If you are not 
going to come to these meetings in spite of all difficulties, 
I advise you not to join the group. Furthermore, if you 
join this group and do what you should do, it will greatly 
increase your work. I do not want you in the group unless 
you are wilhng to go in, heart and soul." 

Believe me or not, but the more he talked the more 
interested I became. I watched the other teachers and I 
saw that it was having the same effect upon them. The 
more difficult he pictured the task, the more everyone 
wanted to tackle it. I believe that is usually true, Hilda. 
There is something innate in human nature that rises to 
meet a challenge of difficulty. 

When Mr. Moore finished telling how hard it would 
really be to do the job, he asked: "Who of you want 
to forget your beaux, disregard all money consideration, 
defy the weather, ignore the roads, and multiply your 
school work for this school year?" Before he was through 
with his question, every hand was in the air. All fifteen 
were shouting, "I do." 



THE VALUE OF THEORETICAL TESTS 3I 

"Then I suggest that you organize yourselves into a 
little club for business pui-poses," he said. 

We were a little ignorant of organization, but we soon 
had a president, a vice-president, and a secretary. Miss 
Wyman was made president. Miss Beulah Walker, vice- 
president, and your pestiferous correspondent was selected 
to keep the record straight. They evidently knew my 
weakness for spreading ink on paper. 

It was noon. We adjourned with the announcement 
that we would have some demonstration lessons at the 
afternoon session of the club. 

We were back from our dinner and ready for work at 
I p. M. sharp. Mr. Moore had arranged to have the fifth 
grade of the Warren school present to be used in the 
afternoon demonstrations. He distributed the following 
brief outhne: 

General Suggestions on Reading in the Public Schools 

BY 

W. H. Moore, Demonstration Helping Teacher. 
Silent Reading: 
Authorities declare — 

1. That we read much more, silently than orally. 

2. That school practice often retards rapid, thoughtful, silent 

reading because 

(a) It does not give sufficient emphasis to speed and to 
thought-getting. 

(b) It fixes a very slow rate by unduly emphasizing oral 
reading. 

(c) It often encourages lip readers. 

(d) It limits the daily lessons to such a small amount of 
subject matter. 

(e) It destroys the child's initiative. 

(f) It subordinates thought to sound. 



32 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

3. That silent reading can be much more rapid than oral reading. 

4. That rapid readers get and can reproduce much more of the 
thought of what they read than can slow readers. 

If these criticisms are well founded, it seems clear that we should 
give more thought and time to teaching silent reading and less to 
teaching the type of oral reading of which the authorities complain. 

In our silent reading, it is clear that we must have two large 
purposes in mind: 

1. To develop speed. 

2. To develop power in thought-getting. 

These may be secured through the following means: 

1. Use reading material that is easy for the child. 

2. Use material that has strong appeal for the child. 

3. Have contests between children in speed and thought-getting. 

4. Have large lesson or story aims to guide children. 

5. Have small paragraph or thought aims to guide children. 

The points of this outKne were discussed briefly and 
then Mr. Moore said he would try to illustrate how to 
increase speed and thought-getting through a reading 
recitation. He distributed the following outHne of the 
lesson which he was going to teach and asked us to follow 
it as we observed the demonstration. 

Teacher's Aim — To illustrate how to secure rapid, thoughtful, 

silent reading. 
Text: Baldwin and Bender's Fifth Reader, pp. 216-221. 
Lesson Title: Who is the Happiest Man? 
Words to be presented before the silent reading begins: — Croesus, 

Solon, Tellus, Cyrus, pyre. 
Children's large aim: To find who is the happiest man. 
Children's small aims: To find answers most quickly to following 

questions : 

1. To whom is a wealthy man compared? 

2. What did King Croesus say of himself? 

3. To whom is a wise man compared? 



THE VALUE OF THEORETICAL TESTS 7,^ 

4. What question did Croesus ask of Solon as they dined 
together? 

5. Why did Solon think that Tellus was so deserving of happi- 
ness? 

6. Who did Solon think were the next happiest? Why? 

7. When did Solon say that we could tell that a man is happy 
and why? 

8. What order did King Cyrus give his soldiers about Croesus? 

9. What did the savage soldier say as he ran for a torch? 

10. What did Croesus exclaim as he lay on the pyre? 

11. How did Cyrus decide to treat Croesus and why? 

It was truly an eye-opener to see Mr. Moore teach 
that lesson. He would ask the question and then all the 
children would open their books at the same time and 
read for dear life. As soon as a child would find what he 
thought was the answer to the question, he would close 
his book and stand. We soon observed that some chil- 
dren read more than twice as rapidly as others. Usually 
the rapid reader had the best grasp of the thought. Some- 
times one would get through too quickly — he had not 
gotten the right thought. He had jumped to his con- 
clusion. The answers of the other members of the class 
would show his error. One such error was enough to make 
a very strong impression upon the child making it. 

As I observed that demonstration, I fell to philosophiz- 
ing. Why not conduct all of our institutes according to 
some such plans as this? Here was something that all 
could see, some definite thing about which all could talk. 
We were all interested in it for we knew that for the entire 
year we would be teaching reading lessons. No one went 
to sleep or yawned or even read a magazine while that 
lesson or the discussion which followed it was in progress. 



34 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

When Mr. Moore was through with the demonstration, 
he said: "Teachers, that was not a very good demon- 
stration of this type of a lesson. I am not an expert teacher 
and these children are new to me. I have taught this not 
as a model lesson but as a suggestive lesson. From the 
interest you have manifested, I am sure that when I visit 
you in your own schools, I shall find you doing much 
better work on this idea than I have been able to do this 
afternoon. I shall visit you all during the week before the 
fourth Saturday from now. I shall write you later the 
exact hour that I shall be at each of your schools." 

We then discussed the lesson somewhat in detail. Every 
teacher asked some question or made some comment. It 
was a regular family affair. I suppose you might call that 
part of the meeting a socialized recitation, for everyone 
was thinking. Everyone was contributing to the discus- 
sion. Nobody made a speech, but everyone made some 
comment and some contribution. 

When we had finished our discussion of the lesson, Mr. 
Moore called our attention to a list of reading references 
printed at the bottom of the page on which the general 
outhne was presented. These references cited books by 
title, chapter, and page where material which bears upon 
our problem of speed and comprehension in silent reading 
may be found. He then drew from that pedagogical, pro- 
fessorial thesis bag, of which I have spoken previously 
with some disdain, copies of all of those books and asked 
who would like to take a copy for the month. To my 
wonderment, I saw every teacher in the group walk up and 
take one. Imagine it, if you can! We have always wailed 
and groaned at the thought of having to read two books 



THE VALUE OF THEORETICAL TESTS 35 

for the state Reading Circle work. That much was re- 
quired by law. Here we were each taking a book to read 
for the month. Here I am to-night about to plunge into 
Huey's "Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading," and I 
don't expect to get a thing for doing so except the fun of 
it — no special credit, no additions to my certificate, no 
additions to my pay check, "no nothing," Hilda, but pro- 
fessional growth for its own sake. Think of it, I say! 
Think of it! Wonder of wonders! When will they ever 
cease? 

You see I am so excited over it that I have written to- 
night just as I talk — no end to it. I have passed the limit 
already. Forgive me. 

Eagerly awaiting next week so I can try my hand on the 
new idea, I am 

Enthusiastically, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Would it be practical for teachers everywhere to give Stand- 
ard Tests to their own pupils and score the papers? What help 
would this be to them in their teaching? Could a teacher do all of 
the scoring of the papers or would she need other judgments be- 
sides her own? How many teachers should work together to make 
an effective scoring team? What advantages would a "self-survey" 
have over "being surveyed?" 

2. Do those standard rates which Martha quotes represent 
what children do, what they should do, or what they could do? 
Are the three rates the same? If not, why not? 

3. Why does reading easy literature facilitate speed in silent 
reading? Why does reading interesting material facilitate speed? 
Why does much reading affect speed? If these are the things 
needed to facilitate speed in reading, what is the teacher's part in 



36 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

increasing speed? From what Martha says, it seems that teachers 
have hindered more than they have helped the speed at which 
people read; I wonder if that is really true? Why? 

4. I wonder if it is difficult to learn how to work out the "me- 
dians" and find how a class ranks and how one class compares in 
one subject to another class in the same subject? How is that com- 
parison made? 

5. To what extent does a difficulty increase our determination 
and our interest? When do difficulties discourage us? Why were 
those teachers not discouraged by the difficulties which Mr. Moore 
presented? 

6. Why were those teachers more interested in that demon- 
stration lesson on the teaching of silent reading than they would 
have been on an interesting talk about how to do it? How will 
that demonstration influence those teachers during next month? 
Will it have a greater influence than would an interesting lecture 
on the same subject? What was the purpose of group discussion 
after the demonstration lesson? 

7. Why is it that we teachers usually read only what is required 
of us? Is that true of any other profession? Why? What would 
change the situation with us? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Measuring the Results of Teaching — Monroe. Chapters I and XI. 
Eighteenth Year Book — Reading — Gray. Part II. National Society 

for the Scientific Study of Education. 
How to Teach — Strayer and Norsworthy. Chapter XV, pp. 

277-287. 
The Supervision of Instruction — Nutt. Chapter XL 
The Classroom Teacher — Strayer and Engelhardt. Chapter III. 



CHAPTER V 

PREPARATION FOR THE TEACHERS' MEETING 

October 3 1 
Dear Hilda: 

Everything is in readiness for our meeting to-morrow. 
At our last meeting I invited the club to meet at our school- 
house this time. To-morrow is the day. We gather for the 
professional part of the program at 10 a.m. The people 
of the neighborhood will come at noon and with them bring 
the dinner for the crowd. The afternoon will be devoted 
to community entertainment. All of the teachers, Mr. 
Moore, and some outside visitors will be present. This 
will be quite a big event for our community. You see, 
we have only five families in our school district and for that 
reason we rarely have any public meetings at the school- 
house. To-morrow's meeting will be a record breaker for 
us and the entire community is taking pride in the fact. 

It has been a revelation to me to see how the attitude of 
a community could change in one month. From the day 
Mr. Moore gave the Standard Tests up to the present 
moment we have all had a new purpose and a new interest. 
This has been the biggest month of my school experience. 
I have been working with an understanding of what I was 
trying to do. My purpose had point and each day had its 
thrill of discovery. I have not always been able to do what 
I undertook but I have been able to know when I suc- 
ceeded and when I failed. The one has had as much 

37 



38 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

interest and as much instruction for me as the other. 
Even failure is beneficial if we know what we are working 
for and can see wherein and why we fail. I have decided 
that it is not only success that makes us happy, but that it 
is intelligent thought on a problem that makes life rich 
and interesting. It takes a certain amount of failure to 
make us appreciate success and cause us to really desire 
success. Some failure sharpens one's interest and strength- 
ens one's determination. It helps to define the desired 
goal. A clear understanding of the goals to be attained 
is necessary before we are prepared to appreciate success, 
or to profit from failure. 

As suggested by Mr. Moore at our last meeting, I have 
been working this month particularly on improving the 
speed and comprehension of the children in silent reading. 
I have always thought of reading as a sort of progressive 
declamatory exhibition. The children had to be lined up 
in a row — sometimes seated, but usually standing. One 
child would read aloud until the teacher decided he had 
read far enough, until he broke down and could no longer 
pronounce the words, or until the teacher caught some 
other member of the class looking off of his book and had 
probably lost his place — one or the. other of these conditions 
was the signal for a change. Under that plan little 
time or attention was ever given to the thought of the 
selection that was being studied. The purpose of the 
recitation was not primarily to get information, or to 
enjoy the selection, but rather to see if all, or any, could 
pronounce the words. Well, the above picture does not 
describe the ideal that I have had in mind for the past 
month. We had very little oral reading and when we did, 



PREPARATION FOR THE TEACHERS MEETING 39 

there was a definite purpose iil it — to settle some disputed 
point, to get the feeling back of the words, or to see which 
member of the class could give the best interpretation of 
some particular passage. 

During the month we have been doing all of our reading 
silently. Speed and thought have been our goals. To find 
suitable material for all of my children has been my task. 
I felt that suitable material was the first thing necessary. 
I had to discover what was suitable. This necessitated 
much reading on my own part. 

I have conducted the work along three lines: 

First, there was home reading. For this I have found 
in our library some supplementary readers with the con- 
tents of which the children were not familiar. Some of 
them contain very interesting stories of some length, 
stories that would take a child from two to three hours of 
consecutive reading to cover. I have given the children a 
little introduction to the story assigned — just enough to 
whet their appetities — and then have fixed two or three 
interesting goals for them to attain, little problems to 
solve, discoveries to make that the stories would reveal. 
They were cautioned not to let anyone else tell them 
or read it for them. They were to report upon their 
findings the next morning. You will be surprised when I 
tell you that some of my fourth-grade children have been 
reading and getting the consecutive and detailed thought 
of as much as one hundred pages per night by this method. 
I have varied the substance and the quantity according 
to the grade of the child. 

Second, there was the study period during the school 
day. For this work, sometimes, I have tried to find a 



40 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

suflEicient number of copies of the same material in which 
they were to find, within a given time, certain facts, answers 
to certain questions which I asked. Some of the answers 
were evident, some were concealed. At other times I have 
presented to them material of equal length but of different 
substance. After a given time, each child would report 
his findings and tell how much of his material he covered. 

Third, there was the recitation. During the recitation, 
the same general plan was used except that the units of 
thought and the time in which they were to be discovered 
were shorter. 

The results have been very great in both of the partic- 
ulars in which we have been working — speed has been 
materially increased and ability to get the thought has 
developed to a degree that surprises me. 

The most interesting feature of the work has been to 
see the children themselves come to a consciousness of 
what they were trying to do. At the beginning of our work, 
speed was the phase that impressed them most. A child, 
in order to be first, would announce that he was ready to 
answer. Sometimes it was found that he had read so 
rapidly that he had not gotten the thought. He was then 
the victim of a bit of ridicule for trying to go too fast. 
After a while it was found that there was, though, some 
relation between fast reading and thought-getting. The 
fast readers usually got the thought better than did the 
very slow readers. All of them have now become ambitious 
to read very rapidly and very well. It has become a most 
interesting game to them. 

Mr. Moore came to visit our school last Wednesday at 
3 p. M. We had been looking for the visit for a month. 



PREPARxVTION FOR THE TEACHERS MEETING 



41 



Looking? Yea, verily, even planning for it. What do you 
think of that? I, I who have always dreaded the visit 
of even the county superintendent, as good a friend as she 
is, as I would a contagious disease, have been looking 
forward to the visit of the supervisor as I would to a visit 
from you, Hilda, except, of course, with a different kind of 
an interest. I would look forward to a visit from you be- 




MR. MOORE VISITS MARTHA'S SCHOOL 

cause I love you and feel at ease when you are around. I 
looked forward to the visit of Mr. Moore because I had 
an interest in my work, in the thing I was trying to do, 
and I knew he would be interested in the same thing. To 
be sure, Mr. Moore has an agreeable personal manner but 
he also has a way of making one forget all about him as 
an individual, and causes one to think of the thing that 
one is trying to do. 

I wish you might have seen him watch us work, the kind 
of interest he took in the thing we were doing. He can 
say ''Good" and "Fine work" in such a way as to put a 
bunch of youngsters right up on their toes. The amusing 
thing to me about his observation was that he sat there 



42 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

with that dreaded notebook about which I had such an 
awful nightmare when I first heard that he was coming out 
here from the University. He wrote down everything that 
we did and yet he did not disturb me or the children in 
the least. We knew that he was friendly and that all that 
he was interested in was how he could help us to do our 
work better. // is not what people do to us that affects us, 
it is the way they feel or the way we think they feel, that 
affects us. 

I taught three reading classes for Mr. Moore's observa- 
tion. I have been more successful with my third grade 
than with any other in the school. I am to teach a third- 
grade class to-morrow, for the observation of the teachers. 
Miss Wyman will teach a sixth-grade class and Miss 
St. John will teach an eighth-grade. Mr. Moore says that 
both of them have been very successful with their work in 
silent reading. I shall be so glad to see them teach for I 
have had a good deal of difficulty framing my questions 
for the reading classes in the upper grades. I seem to 
lack the knack of getting questions that present a good 
clear interesting problem for the children in the upper 
grades. Possibly I can catch the trick if I can see them 
do it. 

After our demonstrations are over to-morrow, we 
shall then discuss problems and answer questions that 
have grown out of the experience of the teachers dur- 
ing the month. I have three that I am going to ask. 
They are: 

I. How can a teacher develop speed in a child's reading 
when there is only one in the grade and competition is 
therefore impossible? 



PREPARATION FOR THE TEACHERS* MEETING 43 

2. What must the problem in reading contain for the 
children in the upper grades that the problem for the lower 
grades does not? 

3 . What is the best plan for a teacher to use to get the 
children to do the most profitable type of reading outside 
of school? 

The last of these questions, Hilda, seems to me to be 
the most important question to be answered by the schools. 
If we could just get children interested in worthwhile 
problems and show them how to find the information 
they need, they would soon educate themselves. Just 
look at me as a brilliant illustration of this point. I have 
read more that bore upon my school work during the past 
month than I have during the two years preceding. I 
read Huey's "Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading" 
during the first week of the month and had discovered 
half a dozen other books that I felt I must read at once. 
During this month I have sometimes galloped through a 
book in a night which ordinarily would have taken me a 
month to read. The reason has been that I had a specific 
interest, a definite problem that I was trying to solve. If 
this is true with me, practical, plodding, grown-up woman 
that I am, I feel sure that it is also true with my children. 
My task then, as a teacher, is to discover problems in which 
my children will be as much interested as I have been in 
the problem of speed and comprehension in silent reading. 

My fife has been so full of the subject of Reading during 
the past month that I have hardly thought of anything 
else. It will be a good thing for me when to-morrow is 
over, for that will close for the present our specialized 
study and emphasis on reading. 



44 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The schedule for the professional part of the meeting 
to-morrow is as follows: — We three teachers will present 
our lessons. The entire group will discuss them. Other 
problems in reading will be presented by other teachers 
and discussed by the group. Then Mr. Moore will initiate 
the study of language by teaching some lessons that bear 
on that subject. Language will be in the foreground for 
the next school month. I don't see how it can be as interest- 
ing as the subject of Reading has been. I shall make no 
predictions, though, for I am coming now to believe that 
anything can be interesting provided we know enough about 
it to see the interesting part. I think probably Mr. Moore 
can show us the interesting part in Language. You see, 
Hilda, I am changing my mind somewhat about "pro- 
fessors who wear spectacles and carry thesis bags." 

I am very tired but not at all sleepy. 

Quite school mannish, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Why was Martha's community so much excited over the 
approaching visit of the teachers of the Demonstration District? 
Under what conditions are visitors a help to a community? 

2. Martha says that failure is one of the essentials of success. 
That sounds like a paradox. To what extent is that true? 

3. If Martha had visited my school recently, I would have the 
feeling that she was describing one of my reading classes in the 
early part of her discussion. I wonder if she means to throw over- 
board all oral reading? Does she mean to imply that the recitation 
should be so guided as not to be used for disciplining an indifferent 
or mischievous child? 

4. Martha's three ways of stimulating rapid reading are very 
interesting to me. Would not this require much more reading 



PREPARATION FOR THE TEACHERS MEETING 45 

material than the parents would be willing to provide? How 
might it be provided for the school? How could it best be used in 
order to get the best results in a campaign to increase speed in 
reading? 

5. What is it that has so changed Martha's attitude toward 
"a spectacled professor with a thesis bag?" Is it what he does or 
the way in which he does it that has made the change? Is it 
both? 

6. What should a supervisor do when he visits a school? Should 
he criticize the work? Praise it? How? When? To whom? 

7. What should be the attitude of a teacher toward the visit of 
the supervisor? What could she do in preparation for his visit that 
would be most fruitful in good results to the school? How could 
she capitalize his visit? What results should she expect to come 
from his visit? Should she hold herself, or the supervisor responsible 
for results? 

8. Those three questions which Martha was going to propound 
to the group seem to me to be very important. How would I 
answer them? 

9. Why has Martha read so much more during the past month 
than ever before during the same length of time? Is she not the 
same girl she has always been? Is she not doing the same sort of 
work that she has been doing? Why, then, this difference? 

10. How long would it take to conduct a meeting such as Martha 
says they were to have? In rural schools about fifteen minutes are 
allowed for each recitation — would a program with an hour of 
demonstration teaching be too long? How much discussion should 
follow an hour's demonstration teaching? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Teaching the Common Branches-Charters. Chapter V. 
Eighteenth Year Book — Reading — Gray. Part II. National 

Society for the Scientific Study of Education. 
The Supervision of Instruction — Nutt. Chapters I and XVI. 
The Value of School Supervision — Pittman. Chapter IV. 

Successful T. — 4 



CHAPTER VI 

THE teachers' CLUB PROVES ITSELF A 
WORKING ORGANIZATION 

Sunday, November 2 
My dear Hilda: 

I am glad that you have asked me to tell you everything 
we do in our Demonstration Helping-Teacher District. 
I should have told you anyway, of course, but it eases my 
conscience to learn that you are anxious to know just what 
we are doing. I shall do my best but even that will not 
do the situation justice, I fear. 

You should be here with us. If it were not for asking 
you to break your contract — a thing that I abhor in 
teachers — I would ask you to resign and come down here 
and take the Rondell No. 7 school, just three miles from 
me. They have a brand new school building and cannot 
get a teacher. They had one but she stayed only a week. 
That school was to have been in our demonstration, but 
it will have to drop out now, I suppose. Wouldn't it be 
grand if you could be here? We could talk, dream, plan, 
and work to our own satisfaction. 

The meeting yesterday was the best that I have ever had 
the privilege of attending where teachers were the respon- 
sible parties. I have a respect for my profession to-day that 
I have never had before. The group of teachers that I saw 
at work yesterday has convinced me that teachers can do 
and will do fine things if they are given a real opportunity. 

46 



THE TEACHERS CLUB 



47 



I was at the schoolhouse yesterday morning by seven- 
thirty to see that the building was warm and everything 
in order. By ten o'clock the people were all there. I wish 
you could have seen them coming in. Miss St. John 
came in her car and brought her eighth-grade children and 
Miss Bogard. Mr. Ransom, our one man teacher, came 
from Marshfield and brought a carload of the teachers 




COMING TO THE TEACHERS MEETING 



from the southwest corner of the zone. Miss Beulah 
Walker came in her father's delivery car and brought the 
fifth-grade children from Warren with whom Miss Wyman 
demonstrated in her teaching. The last to come was Mr. 
Moore who had started early and had gone to the north- 
west corner of the zone to get Misses Fish, Fox, Noel 
and Walton. 

It was cold Friday night. The ground was well frozen 
in the early morning but before the cars could arrive, the 
daily thaw had taken place The top soil was all mud. 
In spite of the mud, however, everybody who needed to 
be there was there. 



48 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The morning session passed before we realized it. We 
were so much interested in reading that no one thought to 
look at his watch until the patrons of the school began to 
arrive at noon with their baskets of dinner. 

As I told you in my last letter, Miss St. John, Miss 
Wyman, and I taught demonstration lessons. Imagine it, 
Hilda. Imagine it if you can. I, who one month ago al- 
most fainted at the thought of the annual visit of the 
County Superintendent, stood right up in the presence of 
fifteen teachers, twenty-five children, and a few other 
folks, and taught a lesson in reading. I taught it, not just 
to teach the children, but to illustrate an idea and to pro- 
vide a basis for discussion. I did it, too, without a quiver 
of the voice or the expected stage fright, and so did the 
other girls. Genuine interest in a problem has a- "way of 
making one forget his surroundings. 

When our demonstrations were over, we had our session 
of discussion. Everyone had some question that he wanted 
answered. The questions all showed that every teacher 
had been working on the problems of silent reading, had 
been thinking about them, reading about them, and 
experimenting with them. There were no formal speeches, 
no papers on the subject, but there were real questions 
and real answers. We could not answer all of the ques- 
tions they raised, but we got the seat of the difficulties 
more clearly located, so as to know v^here we left off and 
where we must take up the study when we come to it 
again. 

The three questions which I submitted (referred to in 
my last letter) were those that had seemed of most vital 
importance to practically everyone in the group. To 



THE teachers' .CLUB 49 

these were added two others. Our discussion time was 
devoted, therefore, to five questions. 

I cannot give you all the details of the discussion but, in 
brief, it was as follows : 

Query i. How can a teacher develop speed in a child's 
reading when there is but one in a grade and competition 
is therefore impossible? 

Answer. Read to the child in such a way as to interest 
him in reading and then leave him to finish the story. In- 
spire him to read and give the result of his reading to a 
group. Let him participate in the contribution to the 
social life of the school as a result of his reading. Stimulate 
home reading of interesting stories. 

Query 2. What must the problems for children in the 
upper grades contain thai the problems for the lower grades 
do not? 

Answer. The problems must always be on the child's 
level. If the problem is too easy for the child, he will be 
disgusted with it. It must continue to call out the best 
there is in him and let him feel that he is in a contest worthy 
of him. The hidden meanings, the implications, the under- 
lying principles, the conclusions, must therefore be the 
sort of things which the upper grade child's problems con- 
tain. Problems that call for stated facts are the sort suit- 
able for the lower grades. 

Query j. What is the best plan for a teacher to use to get 
children to do the most profitable reading outside of school? 

Answer. Tempt the children through Morning Exercises, 
casual class references to books, etc., to become interested 
in reading certain books which are of interest and profit to 
the child. Use the reading of the children for a social pur- 



50 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

pose by encouraging them to tell the stories of what they 
have read to the school. Other minor suggestions were 
given as answers to this question. 

Query 4. What shall he done for large hoys who have not 
learned to read well while young, and have come to have a 
distaste for reading? 

Answer. Treat them just as you would any other child, 
that is, start on their level with the thing they do like. 
It may be a low level. Indian stories, frontier life, etc., 
will usually make an appeal to them. Do not preach to 
them. Let them feel that they are directing their own 
choices. 

Query 5. What should he done with the child who is al- 
ways the last in his group to find the solution to the reading 
prohlem assigned? 

Answer. He is probably in a group to which he does 
not belong. Permit him to compete with a lower group. 
Let him feel the thrill that comes from success. He and 
his parents will probably come to feel that he will do better 
work and get better results in a lower group which works 
with an easier type of material. 

The morning session over, we had dinner. It was 
beautifully served by Mrs. Worthy, Mrs. Grand, and Mrs. 
Sailes. A temporary table was erected and the guests 
passed before it and were served in cafeteria fashion. 

Every guest was thoroughly delighted with the dinner 
and the general manifestation of hospitality. The people 
of the community were also pleased and felt honored that 
they were the first to have the privilege of entertaining 
the teachers at a community dinner. 



THE TEACHERS CLUB 5I 

The noon hour passed all too soon. While some were 
still finishing their chicken bones, the president of our 
club, Miss Wyman, called the meeting to order. 

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said — "Mr. Moore is the 
director in the forenoons. We teachers are the directors in 
the afternoon. In the forenoons we do what we have 
planned as a part of our professional work. In the after- 
noon we do what we have planned as a part of our social 
life. 

"At our organization meeting a month ago, it was sug- 
gested that we have some committees composed of teachers , 
who would make a study of other problems besides those 
which we would study under the leadership of our helping- 
teacher. After conferring with the teachers, I appointed 
five committees to undertake these studies. Three teachers 
are on each committee. We have asked them to see what 
they could do on five subjects. We have made two require- 
ments of these committees. They must present reports 
that will be helpful to us teachers in our work. They 
must also make them in such a form that they will be 
interesting to the people of the communities who serve as 
our hostesses during the year. 

"The topics for the reports and the dates on which they 
are to be given are the following : 

^' First. Morning Exercises : November i. 

^^ Second. Teaching History in Country Schools: No- 
vember 22. 

''Third. Teaching Geography in Country Schools : Jan- 
uary 24. 

"Fourth. Teaching Agriculture in Country Schools : Feb- 
ruary 21. 



52 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

'^ Fifth. Teaching Hygiene in Country Schools : March 
20. 

"I am pleased to announce that we have a full attendance 
of the first committee who will report on Morning Exer- 
cises. Miss Liberty, teacher of the primary room at 
Marshfield, is the Chairman of that committee. I am 
happy to yield the floor to her." 

"Madam President," Miss Liberty began, "when you 
appointed us on this committee one month ago, we were 
all greatly frightened. As Mr. Ransom said, we have been 
having morning exercises for years, as pupils or as teachers, 
but how to tell about what to do, so that it would be help- 
ful to teachers and entertaining to patrons — that is a very 
different matter. But we have been working on our 
assigned task. We were not willing to let the very first 
committee fall down on its report. 

"On our way home from the meeting a month ago, we 
agreed on a few general propositions by which we would be 
guided in our study of the question. After a month of 
study those propositions remain just about as we form- 
ulated them that afternoon. They mean more to us now 
than they did then but the wording of them is almost un- 
changed. Words, you know, have meaning according to 
the extent of the experience back of them in the person 
who uses the words. A college boy could use the same 
words in a speech that the President of the United States 
could, but there would be a great deal of difference in the 
experience back of the words. So the propositions that we 
made a month ago have come to have real meaning as 
we have thought about them and worked on them. We 
agreed — 



THE TEACHERS CLUB 53 

"That we would present those matters at morning 
exercise which children should know but of which the 
limits of the daily schedule of the country school do 
not admit the systematic presentation. 

''That, in so far as possible, we would present those 
subjects that would make an appeal to all of the school. 

"That we would plan our morning exercise periods 
with the children, and do it in advance, so that they 
might live somewhat in anticipation of what was to be 
presented. 

"That we would make the exercises as democratic as 
possible by encouraging the children to assume their part 
of the responsibility. 

"That we would use the morning exercises to give the 
children a large fund of knowledge of many subjects and 
that we would also use it to help them acquire a group of 
'skills' that would function in their daily lives. 

"These may sound somewhat like some of the old 
Chaldean laws that used to be printed in our ancient 
histories, but we hope to make them more concrete before 
we are through. 

"Since I was appointed chairman, Mr. Ransom and 
Miss Steinberg insisted that I take the task of talking 
about things in general and that I let them each do some- 
thing in particular. I think I can say that I have had the 
work and they have had the play of the committee. That 
is always the way with a poor chairman. I have been 
reading books on the subject. I have been trying out new 
schemes almost every day. I have been testing this 
theory and trying that plan and mulling over the other 
proposition. I have not really proved or disproved any- 



54 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

thing. Four weeks is too short a time to prove any one 
thing, to say nothing of proving twenty different things. 

"I have, though, come to one conclusion which is pretty 
sound, I think. That conclusion is that there is no scarcity 
of good material for morning exercises. Any one of twenty 
different ideas is big enough to provide plenty of material 
to last for a year if one wanted to pursue it so long. I 
don't think one would want to go to that extreme, but I 
do believe that a teacher might well keep one general 
line of thought for a number of days, or even weeks, with 
great profit and great pleasure to all concerned. This 
would demand some thought, some planning, and some 
effort. But I have decided that planning and effort will be 
necessary to make a success of any kind of morning exercise. 

''In thinking over the types of material that might be 
presented, it has seemed to me that they may be grouped 
under three topics: Knowledge, Arts, and Appreciation. 

"To be sure, you may say that all of our school work 
can be grouped in the same way. I do not object. Why 
should the morning exercise be so different in general 
purpose from the work for the rest of the day? After all, 
what we want to do is to give the children the information 
that they need for Kfe. Give them those 'skills' upon 
which they must depend for efficient action. Build up in 
them those powers of appreciation that will make them 
able to enjoy all that is good of the past and the present, 
and find joy in the contemplation of the future. I have 
found during this month that my children have learned so 
much and have been so happy during our morning exercise 
periods, that I have been contemplating making my entire 
day a sort of a morning exercise period. I believe that I 



THE TEACHERS CLUB 55 

could work it so that both they and I would be happier 
and wiser. It would be less like school, to be sure, but it 
would be more like life. 

"Now to come to the point. What kinds of material 
can we present under KNOWLEDGE? 

"Current Opinion. — I would mention first of all, Cur- 
rent Opinion or Current Events. I have found that with 
a little study of materials there is no limit to the possibilities 
of this subject. To be sure, children have to be guided in 
the selection and preparation of the material. But that is 
true of any other subject. One of the great advantages of 
this subject is that children become acquainted with 
people, places, pubhc policies, programs and ideals of 
action. They come to know the great needs, the great 
resources, the great hopes of the world. While doing this, 
they are learning to read in a purposeful way and to report 
what they read in a manner that has point. They are 
learning to participate in the great affairs of the world 
while they are yet young. 

"Historical Facts. — Next in interest to Current Events 
are Famous People, I think. This opens up a whole world 
of resources. I found that my children were greatly 
interested in great citizens of our own state. Of course, 
they are no less interested in great Americans. We can 
take this on to great inventors, great statesmen, great 
soldiers, great poets, great labor leaders, great bank- 
ers, etc. Children like to revel in the deeds of heroic 
achievement and we must give them an opportunity to 
do so in situations that are as near normal as possible. 
If we have a child study the life of George Washington for 
his history lesson, he will do it with a sense of duty about 



56 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

it. If we let him tell about Washington at the morning 
exercises, he will do so with a sense of privilege about it. 
Let's multiply those privileges of the school and we shall 
multiply the joy of school. 

"Geographical Facts. — ^Do you grown-up folks remember 
when you used to wish you were a brownie, or a fairy, or 
an angel, so that you could go wherever you wanted to go, 
get there instantly, and get back just by thinking about 
it? That is a manifestation of the child's desire for travel. 
He wants to see strange people and places. Do you recall 
how you used to look at the pictures in the geographies of 
the strange things in other lands? You were taking little 
trips into the land of wonders and of dreams. We should 
use this native interest in our children to good ends. How 
they would like to know of the world's ten greatest cities 
and why they are the greatest! What are the world's ten 
most important rivers, and why are they important? 
What are the world's ten highest mountains and how 
do they happen to be where they are, and what is the 
effect of those facts on the people who live around them? 

"Geography is the biggest, most interesting, most un- 
developed of all of our gold mines of thought. I am stag- 
gered by its possibilities. I leave it for you to delve into 
with the assurance that there is gold there in abundance 
for the morning exercise period. 

"Industrial Facts. — Growing right out of geography are 
the industrial facts that mean so much to our social and 
economic life. I asked Harold Voss the other morning 
where he got his breakfast and as a result, had the most 
interesting twenty minutes with my children that I have 
had this year. With the map, we traced all of the things 



THE teachers' CLUB 57 

that he said he had, from where they were grown until 
they arrived at Marshfield. Other interesting questions 
that we have tried to answer are: 'Why was not Dakota 
settled before Oregon?' 'Why is Amberville larger than 
Marshfield? ' ' Why does California not want the Japanese 
to settle there?' You see, friends, that there is no end to 
interesting material in this field. It is material, too, in 
which children in the first grade will be almost as much 
interested as will children in the eighth grade. 

"When I began my study on this subject, I did not see 
how I could possibly make a talk of more than five minutes 
on it. Here I have spoken for thirty minutes and have 
barely touched the high spots of only one phase of it. I see 
Mr. Ransom and Miss Steinberg both looking daggers at 
me for fear that I will not leave them any time. I must say 
a word about the Arts and then I will yield the floor to them. 

"Arts or Skills. — By the Arts, I mean the way we do 
things. I presume a better word would be 'the skills.' 
I mean those things that we do as a result of physical 
habits and physical control. 

"First, we may think of those that relate to physical 
exercise for the purpose of bodily growth. I shall not dis- 
cuss this phase for I see that we are to have a report by a 
committee on hygiene later in the year, and I presume that 
committee will develop this phase of the subject. Of 
course, we all know how much children enjoy physical 
expression, whether it be in games or in directed drills. 
Suffice it to say that these have their place in the morning 
exercises. 

"The second kind of skills to which I wish to direct 
your attention is that which deals with artistic, manual 



58 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

achievement. Of these skills, penmanship, drawing, and 
the so-called manual arts represent one group. All of 
these are arts of the hand. No less important is singing, 
an art of the voice. With all of these, I believe that the 
principle which I announced in the beginning should be 
kept in mind and applied. I refer to the principle of con- 
tinuing one subject until perceptible results are secured. I 
believe that one month of close concentrated attention to 
vocal music, to penmanship, to drawing, woodwork, or 
any other task where muscular habit and skill are in- 
volved, is far better than a much longer time but where 
less thought, concentration, and closely connected repe- 
tition are involved. 

"Friends, I shall not discuss the subject of appreciation 
for that will be dealt with by Mr. Ransom and Miss 
Steinberg. 

"If my discussion has convinced you, as my study and 
experimenting have convinced me, that the morning 
exercise can and should be the very finest period of the 
day, then I shall not regret the fear that I have endured 
at the thought of facing you, the work that I have done 
in order to have something to present, or the mud that I 
have had to wade through this morning when the Ford 
got stuck, in order to get here." 

I never believed it, Hilda, but it is true. One month of 
real hard work on a big job is enough to change a hesitating, 
blushing girl into a composed, purposeful woman. Miss 
Liberty really looked regal as she presented her report. 
As she talked, a fine glow came to her cheeks. There was 
conviction in her words, and in her tone there was an 



THE teachers' CLUB 59 

element that seemed to say: "I know, for I have tried 
it." 

Mr. Ransom was the next speaker. He has a sort of 
droll humor that kept the crowd roaring with laughter 
much of the time. I shall not try to repeat all that he said. 
I couldn't do it and besides, you have to hear him say it 
in order to appreciate what he says. He spoke in part as 
follows : — 

"Ladies and gentlemen. — I am to tell you all about the 
appreciation of pictures in the next twenty minutes. 
Since picture-making is as old as man himself, of course, 
after a month of study I know all about it. For the past 
month I have fed picture appreciation to my cows and 
horses. I have driven Henry Ford with it. Mrs. Ransom 
says that I have eaten it and slept it. Well, perhaps it 
will reduce the high cost of living if I can do a little more 
high thinking — and a little less high eating. 

''The girls, Miss Liberty and Miss Steinberg, said that 
I must take picture study as my phase of the report. I 
suppose they thought it so much in keeping with my delicate 
body and artistic temperament" (he is six feet two and 
weighs two seventy-five). "Possibly they thought it 
would be worth the price of admission to hear me dis- 
course on something about which they knew that I knew 
absolutely nothing. Well, I hope they will be satisfied when 
I am through. Joke or no joke, though, I have been the 
gainer. 

"I started out on this search for my 'golden fleece' 
with one good point — the consciousness that I knew 
absolutely nothing about it. In the old days when I 
went to school, twenty-five years ago, the teachers had 



6o SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

the idea of 'readin', ritin' and 'rithmetic, taught to the 
tune of the hickory stick' and there was none of this 
picture study folderol around. You can be sure of that. 
The only thing that I knew about a masterpiece was 
what I could see of it — which was plenty — sticking up 
behind the teacher's desk. That was the masterpiece in 
our school. We had a new one occasionally but not until 
the old one was worn out. 

"When I went home from our meeting four weeks ago 
to-day and told Mrs. Ransom that I was to make a report 
on Picture Appreciation, she was amused and astonished 
that I should be given such an assignment. You may be, 
also, before I get through telling about what I did. 

"To begin with, I got in my Ford on the following morn- 
ing and went right up to Amberville and laid my troubles 
before L. C. Jones. Everybody calls him 'Art' because 
he is the art teacher at the Normal School. Jones is a 
good sensible sort of a fellow and sized me up very quickly. 
Soon he said — 'Now, Ransom, I'll tell you what to do.' 
'That's what I am up here for,' said I. 'I am going to 
lend you fifteen pictures that have a rural atmosphere.' 
He could see that I was a country Jake. 'You take those 
fifteen pictures and give one each to fifteen children in your 
school to study. Have each fellow learn all that he can 
about the artist who painted it, the circumstances under 
which it was painted and how it is ranked among the works 
of that artist. Then have each youngster report on his 
picture at a morning exercise period. I shall give you some 
short, interesting biographical sketches about the artists 
who painted these pictures. I shall also give you some 
simple interpretations of them. You read them and then . 



THE teachers' CLUB 6l 

keep the books on your desk for your children to read 
whenever it is convenient. I shall give you the catalogs 
of a number of pubhshing houses that make and sell 
cheap but most excellent reproductions of these pictures. 
You might read these through for suggestions. You will 
find little postage stamp pictures in them of practically all 
of the world's great masterpieces of painting and of sculp- 
ture.' 

"Jones gave me five pictures that represent tame 
animals, five that represent rural people, and five that 
represent rural scenes. I have those pictures here to-day. 
I wish to devote the remainder of my talk to telling you 
what my children told when they reported on the pictures 
to the school." 

Mr. Ransom had the pictures mounted and hung them 
quickly on the wall of the room. I have heard several 
art lectures by specialists in that line, but I have never 
heard one that gave such understandable and sympa- 
thetic interpretation of the rural pictures as did Mr. 
Ransom's. At times he was killingly amusing. Right 
on the heels of his humor, he would present the real spirit 
of the study in such a way that it went home to all who 
heard. 

When he was through with these fifteen pictures, he 
then said: ''Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is all very 
good. I am glad that I had to do this study. I am wiser 
and happier because of it. You are probably happier, if 
not wiser, that I am almost through. The difficulty with 
most of this is that the artists who painted these pictures 
are all dead. The things which these pictures portray are 
far away in Europe. We are a little too prone, I fear, to 

Successful T.— s 



62 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

think that all beautiful scenes are in distant lands or on 
the canvas and that all of the things that are worth paint- 
ing are far away from where we live. 

''The other day I went to visit my friend, Alfred Wentzie, 
one of the editors of The Middle West Farmer. Wentzie is 
a farmer but he is also an artist. He has an artist's appre- 
ciation of the beautiful. He likes to create beauty. More 
than that, he has his eyes trained to see the beautiful 
here on our plains. On the walls of his office hung some 
pictures which I think far excel anything that Rosa Bon- 
heur, Millet, Corot, or any of the other so-called masters 
ever painted. Those pictures which hung on the walls of 
Wentzie's office were painted by two of the world's greatest 
artists working together. The artists, to whom I refer, 
were the idealistic practical farmers of our own state and 
the Supreme Architect of the Universe. 

"I have brought those five pictures here to-day to show 
them to you. Look at them and see if you do not agree 
with me when I say that we have animals and scenes here 
in Gem County which are beautiful enough to inspire 
anyone who has the artist within him. 

"I have been greatly moved, friends, by the interest that 
my children have taken in this work during the past 
month. I myself have begun to see that beauty is largely 
based upon knowledge. Knowledge and appreciation 
can come by cultivation. If we want a beauty-loving 
people, we must expose our children to beauty. We must 
inform them so that they can discriminate the beautiful 
from that which is ugly and vile. This cannot be done in a 
month. Much can be done, though, in a month. If we 
were to devote even one month each year to 'Seeing the 



THE teachers' CLUB 63 

Beautiful,' I think that we might develop through our 
schools a race of beauty lovers. Let's try it!" 

A regular pandemonium of applause followed Mr. 
Ransom's talk. He shunted the compliment by saying that 
the audience was no gladder that he was through than he 
himself was. 

"I was glad," said Miss Steinberg, "that Miss Liberty 
and Mr. Ransom were willing that I should have music as 
my part of the report on Morning Exercises. 

''On Monday morning after our last meeting, I began 
the exercises by telling my children that I was in trouble. 
They wanted to know what it was. I explained that I had 
to make a talk on 'Music in the Country Schools' at the 
next teachers' meeting and that I did not know what to 
say. I needed their help and suggestion. 

'"Aw, that's easy, Miss Steinberg/ said Freddie. 'We 
can tell 'em how to get enough music to last for a whole 
year.' 

"That was quite a rebuke to me. I thought that if 
Freddie was so confident about it, I should not be down- 
hearted. 

"I asked for suggestions and they came in abundance. 
One said — 'Tell them how to use the graphophone.' 
Another said — 'Tell them about the national anthems of 
all the allied nations.' Anna, my little sister, who has be- 
come very much interested in grand opera since we got our 
new Caruso and Farrar records, said — 'Tell them to get 
grand opera and use the graphophone.' Walter Hazelhash 
wanted me to tell you to use funny songs. Someone else 
suggested church music. A boy who had just moved in 



64 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

from Wisconsin and had just learned our state song sug- 
gested that I advocate learning all of the state songs. You 
can see that there was an abundance of suggestion and an 
abundance of material. 

"The problem was not SOMETHING but something 
WORTH WHILE. We thought over the question all that 
day. Just before we dismissed, we took a vote and de- 
cided to learn during the month, one folk song from each 
of ten lands. The ten lands to be represented were: 
America, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, 
Germany, Austria and Sweden. 

"One child was elected for each land to present the 
song to be learned. They all went to work in earnest, and 
so did I, for we had undertaken a task which I knew would 
not prove very easy. 

"On the next morning, the child representing America 
was ready to report. He had a large number of songs, 
with the history of each, to offer for our consideration. 
His story of each was so interesting that we had some 
difficulty in making our selection but we finally voted to 
take ' Swanee River ' as our choice for America. 

"Every second day a new nation would report and a new 
song would be selected. We devoted enough time on that 
day to hear the report, select the song, and learn it. On 
the intervening days we practiced on the songs that we had 
learned. We opened the afternoon sessions by singing. 
We closed each day's session with a ten-minute song 
exercise. 

"The most interesting feature of this work to me has 
been the ease with which the children have learned the 
words to these songs. Usually, children will sing songs 



THE teachers' CLUB 65 

for years and never get the correct words. But I noticed 
that my children learned the words, all of them, during 
the first day of study. I am quite sure that the reason is 
found in the circumstances under which the songs have 
been learned. They were interested in what they were 
doing. Some setting for the song was presented before 
they started to learn it. They were in tune for it before 
they began to learn it. As the boys say, they were 'set' 
to learn it. 

*'It is needless for me to take more time to tell you 
what we have done during the month. It may be of more 
interest to you for me to outline briefly what we propose 
to do during the remainder of the year. We have not 
worked it out in detail but we know in general what we 
would like to do. I shall present, therefore, our big aims 
for the year: 

"First: We are going to sing the songs that we already enjoy. 

"Second: We know many songs now we shall not forget. We 
are going to learn to enjoy some kinds of music that we do not now 
enjoy. This means that we shall have to do some study. We shall 
have to find out what the different kinds of music are. Through 
our graphophone, we expect to familiarize ourselves with some of 
these other types of music. 

"Third: We are going to use one of the ideas that Miss Liberty 
has just voiced, about Morning Exercises. We are going to study 
geography. When we do so, we are going to try to get acquainted 
with the people through their folk songs. We think it would be 
very jolly to have a folk song sung by some of the children dressed 
in native costumes on the day that we study about the country. 
Perhaps we could extend Miss Liberty's idea and have the study 
of one nation extend over for a week and let their folk songs occupy 
a day or two. It seems to me that there is great possibility in this 
idea. 



66 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Fourth: As a means to getting some of this music, we are going 
to learn something about the technique of music — ^notes, signature, 
time, key, etc. If we study these technical matters as agencies to 
an interesting end like a folk song, I am sure they will not prove 
an impediment to us. If we take them up as an end in themselves, 
I fear they would prove such, especially in the beginning of our 
musical study. 

''Fifth: We are going to take advantage of every opportunity we 
have to present the product of our work to the public. Motive is 
the biggest factor in producing good music. We are going to enjoy 
it for ourselves and for its own sake while we are learning it, but 
we are going to have it in the back of our heads all of the while 
that we may later present it to others also. I trust that we may 
have the privilege of entertaining the teachers' club before the 
year closes so that we may sing for you. 

"l think, probably, you would enjoy singing some of those songs 
at present, far more than you would enjoy hearing me talk about 
them; so, with your permission, we shall use the next twenty 
minutes singing folk songs." 

Everyone enjoyed those songs immensely. The teachers 
got some ideas that are sure to be effective in all of their 
schools throughout the year and as long thereafter as 
they teach. 

Hilda, it is now half past midnight. I should have been 
asleep long ago, and would have been had it not been for 
you and those interesting morning exercises. To-morrow 
morning I shall probably be "at outs" with all the world, 
but now I am so much in love with it all that I regret to 
sleep for even a minute for fear something might happen 
and I would miss it. I am 

Your night owl, 

Martha 



THE teachers' CLUB 67 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Why did those teachers show so much interest in getting to 
that Httle teachers' meeting out there in the country? Was it the 
dinner, interest in the subject of Reading, their individual inter- 
est in the work that each teacher himself was to do, or was it 
merely the novelty of that kind of meeting? 

2. Those teachers seem to have assigned to themselves the 
study and attempted solution of large, important school problems. 
Is this a better plan than for the superintendent to assign a topic to 
them to discuss? They all talked as if they were the owners of the 
meeting. Is this a good situation? How was this situation secured? 

3. The five principles which Miss Liberty states on which to 
base the Morning Exercises seem to be sound. Why would they 
not apply just as well for the work of the entire school day? Miss 
Liberty seems to think that the spirit of the school day should be 
just a continuation of the spirit of the morning exercise. Is this 
too radical? What would be the advantages of such a scheme? 
The disadvantages? 

4. Mr. Ransom seems to have learned much about good pic- 
tures within the span of one month even though he did belittle 
himself in that particular. Could any intelligent adult do this? 
Must we all have some compelling situation such as he had to 
cause us to grow in any particular? Was he correct in his assertion 
that a photograph of a beautiful scene is as beautiful as a painting 
by one of the old masters? Does appreciation of real scenes lessen 
the appreciation of a painting? What is the best course to pursue 
to develop interest in and appreciation of art? 

5. Miss Steinberg seems to think that interest in music is the 
biggest factor. Is that true? What could interest in music produce 
in a small country school? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Picture Study in Elementary Schools — Wilson. Books I and II. 
How to Study Music — Farnsworth. 



CHAPTER VII 

MR. MOORE WRITES ABOUT HOW TO AVOID DISCIPLINARY 
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 

Sunday, November i6 
My dear Hilda: 

After we had had our discussion about Reading, at our 
meeting two weeks ago, Mr. Moore said: 

"Teachers, this gives me an inspiration. I wonder if it 
would not be a capital idea if we should now list the 
difficulties for all the school subjects that confront us." 

We teachers thought it would. He suggested, therefore, 
that each of us send to him during the next week a list of 
the difficulties which we had in the operation of our school. 

This ws did. 

He took all of our difficulties, classified them and then 
sent copies of the classified list to each of us. With this 
list he sent a letter devoted to one phase of the difficulties. 
The letter is so good that I am sending it to you for your 
perusal. It runs as follows: 

Amberville, November 12 
My dear Teachers: — 

I wish to thank you for being so prompt about sending me a 
list of your difficulties. I received a letter from every one of you 
and the last letter arrived within one week from, the time of our 
meeting. With that kind of promptness and cooperation we are 
certain to get big results from our work this year. 

Your catalogues of difficulties have been very interesting and in- 
structive to me. I trust they will be equally so to yourselves. In 

68 



DISCIPLINARY DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 69 

them I think we have food for thought for the entire year and if we 
succeed in overcoming them during the year, we shall have just 
cause for gratification and even for pride. 

I have listed them according to the character of the principal 
difficulty. I found that many of the difficulties were common to 
all. Some of the difficulties were more common to the new teachers, 
and certain difficulties seemed to be more common to the more 
experienced teachers. This seems to indicate that it makes no 
difference how young or how old we are in the service, there are still 
"more worlds to conquer." 

You may wish to put this list away some place where you can 
refer to it from time to time. We shall try to give our attention to 
all of them at some time during the year. We shall not attack 
them all at once, but singly. We must make a concentrated assault 
upon each one when we do attack it, and utterly annihilate it. 

I am happy to know that most of you feel that we have made 
some real progress toward the solution of our reading difficulties. 
I trust that we may have the same feeling toward the other sub- 
jects after v.'e shall have had a group conference for their con- 
sideration. 

The problems of discipline seem to be the most common difficulty 
confronting the members of the group. For that reason and be- 
cause we do not wish to devote a special meeting to the discus- 
sion of disciplinary difficulties, I am taking the liberty of writing 
to you upon this subject. As a starter for my discussion I shall 
quote a few of the questions that you have asked: 

1. "Tardiness and absence are the chief difficulties that I have 
in my school. What can I do to prevent these?" 

2. "My children are all very good except in one particular; 
they will whisper. What can I do to prevent whispering?" 

3. "Tattling is the greatest nuisance I have in my school. 
How can this fault be corrected in my children?" 

4. "In my school I have several children who are overbearing. 
They impose on other children who are smaller. What can I do 
to get these children to change their attitude?" 

5. "In my school there are several large boys who are vulgar 
and use obscene language. They are disposed to write on the build- 



70 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

ings, especially on the walls of the toilet. What can I do to break 
up this awful practice? " 

The above quotations present the most common difi&culties 
of a disciplinary character in your schools. I suspect that they are 
the most common in the rural schools of America. They can be 
very anno3dng and do need attention but I do not feel that they 
constitute very large or insoluble problems. Their nature and 
cause must be understood. When understood we are then in a 
position to prevent them. A "pinch" of prevention is always 
worth a pound of correction. 

Let us first get in mind what we mean by good order and a well- 
disciplined school. 

Do we mean that the children are to sit perfectly still and quiet 
in their seats from one recess period to another? Do we mean 
that they are to be lifeless except when we ask them to be other- 
wise? Could we conform happily to the standards that we set up 
for our children? 

Would it be better to define good order in school as that order 
in which every child is busy at some worthwhile task which does 
not interfere with the privileges and efficiency of anyone else? 
If we discu3sed the matter with the children on this basis, don't 
you think we might eliminate all objectionable whispering, and 
other little thoughtless and mischievous acts which interfere and 
for which there is cause for correction? 

In every school as in every family there will arise, from time 
to time, problems which require special attention. Such prob- 
lems will need to be dealt with in frank and fearless fashion. 
But these instances should be the exception and not the rule. 
Practically all the disciplinary tangles which worry our minds 
and spoil our dispositions may be avoided if only we will ask 
ourselves and answer for ourselves and for our schools, these 
questions: 

I. What are the physical conditions under which my children 
must work? Is the school building in which I teach a place where 
children can be physically comfortable and happy? Is it clean? Is 
it attractive? Is it well heated? Is it properly ventilated? Is 
there anything in the physical situation of the school which would 



DISCIPLINARY DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 71 

distract the attention of the children or make them uncomfortable 
or inefficient? If so, what can I do to correct it? 

2. Are all the children physically fit to work? Do they have good 
vision? Is their hearing acute? Are their nasal passages free from 
obstructions? Are their teeth sound, their throats in good con- 
dition, their digestion satisfactory? Are they mentally normal? 
Are they dressed comfortably? Do they sleep sufficiently and under 
hygienic surroundings? Are they properly nourished? If not, 
what can I do to remove the present physical handicaps? 

3. What is the social and hygienic situation in the homes from 
which these children come? Have I taken the trouble to find out 
what the situation is so that I may successfully cooperate with 
and properly understand the parents? Am I able to supply for the 
children at school what the home lacks? Are the luncheons which 
the children bring to school the kind of luncheons they ought to 
have? If the homes do not provide what is needed in the way of 
moral and school training, personal inspiration and physical nur- 
ture, what can I do to meet the need? 

4. Do I understand child nature? Have I made sufficient study 
of children in order that I may sympathetically understand the 
changes which take place in their nature and conduct from year 
to year? Am I familiar with the investigations which have been 
made which show how much children differ in their native equip- 
ment? Could I determine the relative degrees of intelligence 
which my children possess? Would I be able to adjust my guidance 
of the children more wisely if I knew more of the individual dif- 
ferences, and more of the waxing and waning of their original 
tendencies? 

5. Am I a success as a teacher? Are my manners such as to 
have a refining influence on my children? Do I have any manner- 
isms of gesture or speech which detract from the efifectiveness of 
my work? Is my information broad and accurate? Would children 
wish to know as much as I do, or do I give them the impression that 
I am simply a taskmaster to make them memorize the facts found 
in the textbooks? Do I have a contagious enthusiasm? Do chil- 
dren enthusiastically accept as their own purpose the suggestions 
which I propose, or do they accept them as imposed tasks in which 



72 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

they take no pleasure? Just why am I teaching? Is it for one 
hundred dollars per month or do I really believe in the importance 
of my work to such an extent that I would continue to do it in 
preference to a position much more lucrative but of a different 
character? 

6. What do I conceive to be the work of the teacher? Is it to drill 
the children upon a few facts? Is it to "pour into" their plastic 
minds a great mass of information? Is it to arouse in them in- 
dividual and group purposes, aid them in securing the necessary 
information, guide them in the formation of the needed skills, 
and inspire them to persist until the desired goals are attained? 
What is the big work of the teacher of children? 

The above questions may be of assistance to you in making 
a survey of yourself and your school. We, as teachers, need to be 
keenly sensitive to the influences, physical and social, which make 
up our schools. Thoughlfulness, orderliness, earnestness, and energy 
must characterize our work if we are to be truly successful. 

The following general principles may be of assistance to the 
younger teachers of the group to help them to avoid the troubles 
which we usually call "discipline": 

1. Think as little as possible and talk less of failure. Think of 
success. Plan for success. Talk about success. 

2. Talk little to your school about discipline, about the faults of 
children, about the mistakes that have been made. Magnify, 
wisely, the strong points of the children. Call attention to individ- 
ual and group successes. Individual and school pride are far better 
bases on which to build success than individual and group shame. 

3. Keep the children supplied with distant goals. As soon as 
one big goal is attained, another goal must be set. When chil- 
dren catch up with their goals, they immediately start trouble for 
all those around them. The teacher's surest preventive of school 
troubles, therefore, is a bountiful stock of worthy educational goals 
to which children easily and enthusiastically respond. 

4. Inspire every child in school to feel that he is responsible for 
the success of the school in some particular. Get every pupil 
assigned or elected to some office at some time which carries with 
it a responsible duty. Help the children realize the importance of 



DISCIPLINARY DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 73 

that responsibility. Let offices rotate in such a way that honors 
are kept new and burdens are kept light. Through such officials 
the school property may be protected; the school grounds may be 
kept clean; the children may be kept happy and active while on 
the play grounds; guests of the school may be properly received 
and welcomed; the flag may be fittingly displayed, protected, and 
reverenced: the duties of the teacher may be lessened; and citizen- 
ship of school and community improved. 

5. A teacher who is physically fit, spiritually earnest, and in- 
tellectually prepared is the surest of all agencies for good order in 
a school. Plenty of sound sleep, fresh air, cheerful friends, and 
wholesome food provide the fundamentals of health. Original 
endowment supplemented by an intelligent consciousness of the 
importance of teaching are necessary for the spiritual outlook and a 
few hours, daily, of uninterrupted study are required to keep the 
teacher intellectually prepared for her work. 

6. Launch your school well each day. Let the first fifteen min- 
utes be so interesting that no child will be willing to miss it. This 
will put them all in a pleasant mood for the day's work. Close the 
day with a harmonizing and unifying program, brief but effective. 

7. "Take stock" often to find out how you stand. The grocer 
keeps his notebook into which he puts down the names of the things 
for which his customers call but which he does not have. He also 
watches his shelves to see what he has that the customers do not 
want. The teacher must use similar methods if she is to hold 
"her customers." 

8. Enthusaistic play, intelligently and cooperatively performed, 
is the best lubricant the school machinery ever had applied to 
it. It is physically good for teacher and children, pedagogically 
sane and socially constructive. 

If these suggestions serve as a nucleus around which you may 
organize your own thoughts and plans for making your school a 
happy working organization, I shall be happy. Please feel perfectly 
free to talk with me or write to me concerning any particular 
disciplinary problems that you may have during the year. I am, 

Yours very truly, 

William Hoppes Moore 



74 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

After reading Mr. Moore's letter, I really felt embar- 
rassed that we teachers should have looked upon those 
Kttle matters, which we mentioned, as our "discipHnary 
problems." Tardiness, whispering, tattling, bullying, 
and vulgarity are really superficial evidences. They are 
not fundamental things. I can now see that. The funda- 
mental thing is a teacher with brains, purpose, imagination, 
tact, and energy. 

This raises the fundamental educational and social 
question now before America. The problem is: How are 
we going to get these aforesaid teachers with brains, pur- 
pose, imagination, tact, and energy? We can not import 
them. We can not buy them. We must, therefore, create 
them. But how? 

First of all, we must get people who have brains to 
enter the teaching business, profession, or calling. The 
importance of the work must be dramatically presented to 
the youth of the nation. The far-reaching results of the 
teacher must be shown to those who are willing to leave 
their record in the form of human character. The diihcul- 
ties of the work, the endless investigation which it requires, 
must be so described that the size of the job will appeal 
to persons of herculean physical power and gigantic 
strength of purpose. 

After having discovered these persons, we must train 
them. I firmly believe that teachers are partly born but I 
just as firmly believe that they are also created, made by 
training. Prize-fighters are born but they also do a great 
deal of training before they enter a ring against a com- 
petitor. If this is true in a game in which physical strength 
is so large a part of the game, does it seem less true in a 



DISCIPLINARY DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 75 

game in which intellect and social manner are the qualities 
that are to operate? 

Not only must the teachers be trained before entering 
upon their task, but they must continue to be trained 
while at it. To push the figure of the prize-fighter a little 
further, have you ever noticed, Hilda, how the champion 
loses his belt? As soon as he gets it, he retires from the 
ring and goes into vaudeville. He does shadow fighting 
for a year or two. Finally some one challenges him. He 
accepts but is knocked out early in the fight. That is too 
often true of us teachers, I fear. We attend school a little 
while, get some knowledge, some practice, and with our 
hope and confidence we go out into the battle. We win 
for a while and then we begin shadow fighting. We do 
not keep up our training. We must keep on training if we 
are going to continue to win. This letter from Mr. Moore 
and the two meetings that our teachers' club has had 
show me what training after school and on the job 
means. 

After reading this letter I am persuaded that what we 
need is not more teachers announcing "thou shalt nots" 
to children, but more teachers finding worthy things for 
children to do in which they are interested, and then as- 
sisting them to do those things well; not more little tyrants 
to suppress people and force them to be quiet, but more 
leaders with vision to discover work and play for every- 
body, and put them at it. 

Yes, I am converted. It is not discipline we want but 
inspiration, guidance, and action that we need. We have 
been looking in the wrong direction and for the wrong 
thing. We must look toward the sunrise and for the 



76 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

things that are good. If we will, the day need never grow 
old. I am, 

A disciplined, 

Martha 



HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Those teachers state that tardiness, whispering, tattling, 
bullying, and vulgarity are their most common causes for discip- 
linary action. I wonder if that is true in my school? Are those 
the causes which give most rural teachers trouble? What other 
causes are more troublesome? Taken separately, how do I try 
to correct them? 

2. If I understand Mr. Moore correctly, he says that the chief 
causes for the troubles which require disciplinary action are (i) 
the physical conditions of the school buildings and grounds, (2) 
the physical condition of the children, (3) unhygienic and unfit 
social conditions in the child's home, (4) lack of understanding 
of the individual differences of children on the part of the teacher 
and inability or lack of effort to adapt the school conditions accord- 
ingly, (5) a teacher who does not measure up to the need in scholar- 
ship, tact, inspiration, vision and energy, (6) a failure on the part 
of the teacher to grasp the real purpose of the teacher. According 
to this, if the teacher has disciplinary difficulties it is her fault. Is 
this true? 

3. Mr. Moore's rules for success, stated briefly, are: (i) Thuik 
and talk success, (2) Believe in the children and recognize the 
good things they do, (3) Keep the children supplied with distant 
goals, (4) Give every child an important position to fill, (5) A 
teacher who is physically, spiritually, and intellectually fit is the 
surest guarantee of a successful school, (6) Launch well and anchor 
securely each school day, (7) "Take stock" often to see what "the 
customers" demand. (8) Play enthusiastically, intelligently, co- 
operatively. Do I agree that these are the things which prevent 
those troubles which require "discipline"? 



DISCIPLINARY DIFPICULTIES IN THE SCHOOL 77 

4. Martha thinks, therefore, that all that is needed is strong 
teachers. Is she right? If our teachers were strong would our 
problems of discipline disappear? 

5. Martha believes that there are three phases to the problem 
of securing teachers: (i) Get strong people to enter the business, 
(2) Train them for the work, (3) Keep them trained by means of 
expert leadership while they work. Are all three of these necessary? 
If we could get strong people to enter, would we need to train 
them? If they were once trained, would we need to continue the 
training? Could they not keep up their own training? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Rural School Management — Wilkinson. Chapters XI, XII, XVIII. 
The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee. Chapters 

I, II, III. 
Our Public Schools— Corson. Chapters XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV. 



Successful T.— 6 



CHAPTER VIII 

LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 

November 22 
Dear Hilda: 

It was a hard but an interesting trip that we had to-day. 
Our meeting was held over at the Highlands School on 
the other side of the Demonstration Zone. The roads 
were dreadful and the weather was cold but we got there 
nevertheless. Since we live on one side of the district, we 




THE TEACHERS MEETING AT THE HIGHLANDS SCHOOL 

went by such a route that we could carry some of the 
other teachers who had no way to get there. In this way, 
it is easy for all of the teachers to get to the meetings. 
Mr. Moore brought some of the teachers who teach at 
schools between Highland and Amberville, and Miss 
Black brought the rest of the teachers who live in the 
southwest corner of the zone. 

78 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 79 

Language was the big subject last month, as I wrote 
you it would be. You see, we have some one subject each 
month that is our major interest. While we do all of our 
work all of the time, as well as we can, we single out one 
particular subject to study about, to experiment with, and 
give special thought to for the month. My children en- 
joyed the month that we devoted to Reading, but they 
have been literally wild with enthusiasm this month over 
the work in Language. We have been playing some lan- 
guage games. The children have become so much in- 
terested in them that they often ask to play them at 
recesses instead of playing the out-of-door games or other 
in-school games which have no educational point in them. 

During the month we have done five different kinds of 
work as means by which to improve the work of language. 

First: A language survey: 

On the first Monday of the month I suggested to the 
children that this was language month for the entire zone 
and I wondered what we should do in order to improve 
ourselves in that subject. We had numerous and varied 
suggestions but decided by vote that the first thing to be 
done was to discover our most glaring faults. The next 
task was to decide what is correct speech and what is in- 
correct. I was elected by the school as umpire to decide 
what expressions are correct and what are incorrect. 
Then, two days were taken to locate our troubles. Prac- 
tically every hour some child would say: — "Miss Martha, 
is this correct?" — or "Is that right?" 

At the end of two days we had our most common errors 
"spotted." We then decided that we would take three 
days in which to catch people using those expressions. It 



8o SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

was not long before the name of everyone in the school was 
placed in the "Caught List." Even the teacher was found 
guilty of an offense or two, very much to the delight of the 
children. 

Second — Language games: 

Having discovered our errors, the next job before us was 
to banish the "enemy expressions," from our school. At 
this point, I suggested that I had in the library, some books 
given to me by Mr. Moore, which contained some very 
interesting games that had for their purpose the banish- 
ment of our "enemy expressions." I suggested that when- 
ever anyone in the room had one of those games well 
enough in hand to serve as a leader, he might teach it to us. 
Then ensued a feverish period of learning language games. 
I taught but very few of the games but I played in prac- 
tically every one of them. The following little exercise, 
illustrating the use of "It isn't," is a sample of the games 
used: 

Mamie Serves as a Leader — 

Leader: "I've thought of a word that rimes with door." 

Roy: "Is it part of an apple?" 

Leader: "No, it isn't 'core'." 

Maud: "Is it what I did to my dress? " 

Leader: "No, it isn't 'tore'." 

Helen: "Is it what lions do?" 

Leader: "Yes, it is 'roar'." 

Then Helen, the successful one, becomes the leader and the game 
proceeds, with another word to be discovered. 

Third — Oral Composition: 

We talk so much that it seems we should not need to 
practice oral composition. We do, nevertheless. Our 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 8l 

ordinary conversation is likely to be careless and lacking in 
good form unless we have set ourselves the task of living 
up to certain definite standards. This fact was very much 
impressed upon one of my second-grade children last week. 
After we had been on a hunt for a while for our "enemy 
expressions" that were destroying our correct speech, 
Helen came and said: — "Miss Martha, it seems as if 
everything we say is wrong." Helen was almost right 
about it. We have so long thought it is only when we 
write that we need to have any standards. 

During this month we have been consciously trying to 
speak well — both in ordinary conversation and while doing 
class work. The school decided to establish a standard 
for the work in oral composition. After much discussion 
and weighing of points, the following was posted on the 
bulletin board — 

Standards for Oral Compositions 

Third Grade: Three correct sentences. 
Fourth Grade: Four correct sentences. 
Fifth Grade: Five correct sentences. 
Sixth Grade: Six correct sentences. 
Seventh Grade: Seven correct sentences. 
Eighth Grade: Eight correct sentences. 

The pupil must stand erect, must speak so he can be heard, 
must look his audience in the face while speaking. 

Much liberty was allowed in the selection of subjects. 
A child could speak upon anything he liked. As a matter 
of actual fact I have noticed that they usually spoke on 
subjects that were very much alike. One child would be a 
little more original than the others and think of an interest- 
ing subject. Immediately that became a very popular 



82 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

subject. All would want to talk upon it. To illustrate, 
shortly after we began this type of work, one of the chil- 
dren saw one of our jack-o'lanterns that had remained as 
a relic of Halloween. He decided to talk about it. Soon 
all were composing on the same suggestive theme. I 
quote below what two of the boys said: 

Henry Simon, third-grade pupil said: 
"I have a jack-o'lantern. 

It is yellow. 

It is large." 
John Schumann, sixth-grader, said: 

"I have a very beautiful jack-o'lantern. 

It was made from a pumpkin. 

The pumpkin was large and yellow. 

The jack-o'lantern is smiling a ghostly smile. 

He looks as if he is planning some mischief. 

I think he must be planning to elope with the witch." 

We have only started in this work and yet I can see a 
very defiiiite improvement. The children are becoming 
conscious of the completeness or incompleteness of a 
sentence. They are beginning to notice the "and" sen- 
tences and to recognize the fact that some of the children 
use them more than do others. We hope to pass the stage 
very soon when these short, stubby, mechanical sentences 
will be satisfactory to the children as standards for their 
oral composition. Already those children who compose 
well, orally, are becoming the models for the school and 
they are beginning to take a pride (I hope it will not 
become objectionable) in their speech. 

Fourth — Written Composition: 

We have not pressed the written composition work. We 
have had so much that was interesting, which we felt was 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 83 

more important just at present, that we have put our 
written composition in the background for the month. 
We have, though, taken time enough to write two letters. 
The entire school wrote and then voted as to which letters 
should be sent. We try to have a real purpose for writing 
when we write. 

Before the teachers' club met at our school on November 
ist, we had written to all of the teachers inviting them to 
be present on that occasion as our guests. After the teach- 
ers were here, they had written thanking us for the pleasant 
time they had that day. While no reply was really neces- 
sary, I felt that it was a good opportunity to do some real 
work in written composition. Each child decided to 
write acknowledging the letter of the teacher whom he had 
invited and expressing gratification because of the pleasure 
that the teacher had enjoyed. The letters were worked 
over with much care. The children had met at the meeting 
the particular teachers to whom they were writing. They 
felt, therefore, that they knew to whom they were writing. 
Some of the letters were copied a number of times, and 
I am glad to say, never as a result of my command. In 
their efforts on this one letter they learned much about 
form, sentence structure, and social usage. While pen- 
manship was not neglected, it was of minor importance. 

The other letters were dehvered only yesterday. They 
relate to a little Thanksgiving program that we shall have 
at our school next Wednesday afternoon. We are very 
anxious to have all of the people of the community present. 
There are several families in the community who do not 
have children in the school. The larger children wrote to 
them. The small children wrote to their own parents. 



84 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

There was much joy in the preparation of the letters. 
Some Thanksgiving designs were put on the letters and 
on the envelopes. Each letter was sent by special mes- 
senger other than the writer of the letter. 

It is my belief, Hilda, that it is far better not to have the 
children write often but when they do write, they should 
have a real purpose, not a make-believe one. When the 
situation is real, the child will attend to the information 
and instruction that is given. He will seek it. It is not 
forced upon him. He will remember it when he uses it in 
this way. It is better, I believe, to do something in which 
he is interested and for which he is mentally and spiritually 
prepared than it is to require him to write simply because 
the course of study says write ''so many" compositions or 
letters. The course of study never intended, anyway, that a 
teacher should cease to use her own common sense. 

Fifth — Technical Grammar: 

Mr. Moore thinks that technical grammar, as such, 
should not be taught until the eighth grade. I agree with 
him. Even then only those principles that are most im- 
portant should be emphasized. The others can wait and 
should be deferred until high school when other languages, 
also, are taken up for study. 

At our meeting on the first of November, Mr. Moore 
showed us how to teach a definition in grammar by means 
of an inductive lesson. Well, I'll have to teach you what a 
pronoun is to show you what I mean by an inductive lesson. 
This is the way it goes: 

(Martha) — "Look at these three sentences, Hilda. 
John is wearing John's new hat.' 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 8$ 



<< <i 



Mary is putting on Mary's cloak.' 
'The tree is shedding the tree's leaves.' 
(Martha) — "Hilda, do you like those sentences?" 
(Hilda) — "No, they sound awkward." 
(Martha)— "What is wrong with them?" 
(Hilda) — "They should have 'his,' 'her,' and 'its' instead of 

'John's,' 'Mary's' and 'tree's.'" 
(Martha) — "Very well, let's rewrite the sentences as you suggest. 
Here they are: — 

John is wearing his new hat.' 
'Mary is putting on her cloak.' 
The tree is shedding its leaves.' 

(Martha) — "What does the underlined word 'his' do in the first 

sentence, Hilda?" 
(Hilda) — "It takes the place of 'John's.' " 
(Martha)— "What is 'John's?'" 
(Hilda) — "It is a proper noun." 
(Martha) — "What does the underlined word 'her' in the second 

sentence do?" 
(Hilda) — "It takes the place of the word 'Mary's' in the second 

sentence." 
(Martha) — "How are these two underlined words in these two 

sentences alike?" 
(Hilda) — "They both take the place of nouns." 
(Martha) — "Very good. Now let us see what the underlined word 

'its' in the third sentence does?" 
(Hilda) — "It takes the. place of the word 'tree's' in the third 

sentence." 
(Martha) — "Yes, now can you tell me in what particular all of 

these underlined words are alike? " 
(Hilda) — "They all take the place of nouns." 
(Martha) — "Yes, that is correct. Let us write that up here on the 

board. 'AH of these underlined words are words that 

stand instead of nouns.' 
"Do you like that as a definition of those words, 

Hilda?" 



86 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

(Hilda) — "No, I do not. It is too awkward." 

(Martha) — "Well, I know a name that you can substitute in the 
place of 'All of these underlined words.' Should 
you like to know it? " 

(Hilda) —"Yes, what is it?" 

(Martha) — "A Pronoun. Let us rewrite our definition. 'A pro- 
noun is a word that stands instead of a noun.' 
Turn to your book, now, page 127, and see if that 
agrees with what is printed there." 

The above is an inductive movement, Hilda. Any of the 
definitions of grammar may be developed in the same way. 
You may wonder why we take so much time to develop 
the definition when it is printed in the book. The child 
could turn to it and read it in much less time than one 
can teach it to him. The difference between the two ways, 
Hilda, is this: If he learns it according to the plan that 
I have used, he will be more likely to understand and to 
remember it. But if he gets it the other way, it is 
merely a memory process and is less likely to be understood 
or remembered. To develop this particular definition, I 
should have used more sentences and have had pronouns 
in the nominative and objective cases just as I did in the 
possessive case. Space and patience forbade. 

The inductive part of the lesson, though, is but one 
part of it. There is a deductive part. Let us take up that 
part of it and finish the movement. 

(Martha) — "Look on page 128, Hilda, and let's see if you can 
locate the pronouns. Will you read the first sen- 
tence?" 

(Hilda) — "'The bird is feeding its young.' 'Its' is a pronoun." 

(Martha) — "How do you know?" 

(Hilda) — "A pronoun is a word that stands instead of a noun. 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 87 

'Its' stands in the place of the word 'bird's,' which 
is a noun. 'Its' is therefore a pronoun." 
(Martha) — "You did that so well, Hilda, I can see that you under- 
stand perfectly the meaning of a pronoun. For to- 
morrow, I wish you would point out all of the pro- 
nouns in Exercise 43, page 129." 

Now that I understand deduction, drill in grammar has 
become much simpler. I am beginning to see how the 
inductive-deductive movement applies to other subjects 
also — arithmetic, geography, and history. While the chil- 
dren in my school have been most interested in playing 
language games, the mastery of doing the inductive and 
the deductive types of lessons has been my game for the 
month. I wonder if it is possible for a teacher to spend 
her entire professional life learning as I have, during the 
past two months. I think I shall soon be a pedagogical 
wizard. My head is about to burst, it is so full of new 
information and germinating ideas. 

But I started out to tell you about the teachers' meeting. 
It was nearly eleven o'clock before we got started on the 
program. Our car was the last to arrive, much to my 
chagrin. We had a full program. You see it is Mr. Moore's 
notion that we must have a pedagogical parade each 
month, of all of the good work that he has discovered on 
his round of visits. 

To-day Miss Fish demonstrated language games and 
memory gems; Miss Anderson gave an exhibition in 
technical grammar; a number of other teachers told how 
they get the best results in oral and written composition. 
Naturally some of the teachers are more successful along 
one line of language work and others more successful 



88 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

along another line. The beauty of these demonstrations 
and observations is that each teacher has the benefit of 
the best that the other teachers can do. 

The language games by Miss Fish's children were cer- 
tainly interesting. Her children are practically all foreign 
born and have much difficulty in speaking the English 
language. She has a great variety of language games. 
Her children enjoy them very much. She says that one 
month has wrought a language revolution in her school 
and that the children now do for fun what formerly they 
did as a laborious task. 

The technical grammar lesson by Miss Anderson was a 
revelation. Four weeks ago Miss Anderson saw for the 
first time, probably, an inductive lesson; to-day she demon- 
strated it as if she were an expert who was selling it to the 
public. She developed the definitions of transitive and 
intransitive verbs and did it so effectively that the chil- 
dren taught probably will never forget the distinction 
between the two. I tell you, Hilda, the more I see of this 
work, the more firmly I am convinced that all that the 
rural teachers and the rural people need is to be shown 
the right thing and encouraged to reproduce it. 

The story of the boy who showed an ostrich egg to his 
bantam hen and told her to look at that and do her best, 
has universal application. What we need are ostrich eggs 
for every line of human endeavor, and big enthusiastic 
boys to inspire mankind to do its best. We do not need 
to be constantly reminded of our limitations. We do 
need to be shown what our possibilities are and then in- 
spired to achieve them. After having seen Miss Anderson 
teach, and hearing her story of what she has done during 



LANGUAGE HOLDS THE CENTER OF THE STAGE 89 

the month, I have decided that what the world most 
needs is discoverers— human-talent discoverers. There 
may be great mines of valuable ore beneath the surface 
of the earth that await discoveries. There may be great 
stores of unused energy locked up in the earth, the sea, 
and the air, but the greatest source of undiscovered wealth 
and unused energy in the world is not in earth or sea or 
air but in human minds and souls. Let us pray for bold 
discoverers, mind-discoverers, energy-awakeners, soul- 
inspirers. 

The most useful place for these people to be, in order 
that they may do their best work, is in the schools dealing 
with plastic humanity. 

The world has been so thrilled during recent years over 
its discoveries and use of coal, oil, gas, electricity and other 
sources of energy that it has overlooked the greatest of 
all its sources of wealth and energy. It has been paying 
big money for big brains to handle big industrial enter- 
prises. It is now time for the world to discover its greatest 
potential enterprise and to put its boldest spirits and keen- 
est intellects to work on the job. Hilda, I think you and I 
are engaged in the biggest work in the world. Are we 
big enough to see the possibilities of our job? I am 
standing to-night on tiptoe to see the expanding horizon. 

Devotedly, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. I wonder what will be surveyed next. Here, Martha is sur- 
veying the language mistakes of all her children. What are the 
advantages of such a survey? 



go SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

2. Martha seems to be turning her school into a perpetual 
party in which the children do nothing but play. Is the con- 
sciousness of all work to be driven from the minds of the children? 
What advantage has a language game over just the usual honest- 
to-goodness drill upon a language fact? 

3. I believe, upon my soul, Martha is going to keep on with this 
idea of conscious action and purposeful activity until she will take 
all the joy out of life. Now she is saying that one must even be 
conscious of certain definite standards of speech while conversing. 
What are the standards which one should have to guide his oral 
composition? Are the conditions quite different from those which 
the children set up to guide them in their oral composition work 
in class? 

4. Martha says nothing about the length that a letter should be 
in her discussion of written composition. Does she fear that she 
might violate her own rules? Why is it that a letter is a better 
form of written work through which to get good work from chil- 
dren than an essay would be? 

5. An "inductive-deductive lesson" in grammar! My! That 
is a big word. Where did they get it? Are there any other kinds 
of lessons with such pedagogical names? It may be that I have 
been doing many things in my teaching of which I was not con- 
scious but we are told that ignorance of the law excuses no man. I 
presume that will apply to the women also, since we have the ballot. 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Measuring the Results of Teaching — Monroe. Chapter XI. 
Speaking and Writing English — Sheridan. Pages 8-14: 1 51-158. 
A Brief Course in the Teaching Process — Strayer. 
The Science and the Art of Teaching — LaRue. Chapter XXV. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE MAKE A REPORT 

Sunday, November 23 
My dear Hilda: 

I closed my letter last night in such a flame of glory 
that I forgot all about telling you what the Committee 
reported on the subject of History and Civics. I was stand- 
ing so high up on my tiptoes to see the expanding horizon 
that I could not see the things which were nearest to me. 
That is the way with us dreamers, I suppose. I would 
rather overlook, though, sometimes, a few things that are 
very near, if in doing so I can see some very much bigger 
and finer things farther away. 

Misses Wyman, High, and Beulah Walker constituted 
the committee. Miss High spoke first: 

''When Miss Liberty spoke at the last meeting of the 
Club on 'Morning Exercises,' I began to think that the 
History Committee would have nothing to report," Miss 
High began. "But I do not care when the historical ma- 
terial is taught or by what name it is called. The thing 
that I do want to be sure of is that it is presented at some 
time and in some way in which the children will like it. 
I think that history is the most interesting of all of the 
school subjects. I believe any normal child will think so, 
too, if he is given an opportunity. 

"As you all know, I have only the first four grades in 
our school. Miss Wyman has the four upper grades. 

91 



92 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"If Miss Wyman had not appointed me on this com- 
mittee, that would have been the end of our diplomatic 
relations. Of course I would have been game. I would 
have done my duty on any other committee, but I would 
have been conscious every minute that it was a duty. As 
it is, I have been playing. My children and I have been 
having the time of our lives. 

''The autumn is a glorious time to teach in the elemen- 
tary grades. It is then that we study world geography in 
a general, sketchy way. It is then that we celebrate Colum- 
bus Day and that provides a fine beginning point for our 
work. Then along comes Thanksgiving with all its autumn 
setting. Christmas presses close upon it. But the spring- 
time is just as rich in its suggestiveness as is the autumn 
since I come to think of it. There are Lincoln's and Wash- 
ington's Birthdays and a number of other events that 
make excellent leads to interesting history work. 

Possibly the best way that I can suggest what to do 
to teach history in the lower grades is to tell you what I 
have done. You may think I am very egotistical but I can 
tell what I have done much better than I can tell what 
some book says to do. I have been reading the books, and 
I know what they say about it, and much that I did was 
based upon what they had to say. But I beheve you will 
get more out of it if I tell you what I did than if I tell you 
what McMurry, or Kemp, or Finley- Johnson, or someone 
else has said about it. 

"I enjoyed the talks at our last meeting by Mr. Ransom 
and Misses Liberty and Steinberg more than I ever en- 
joyed any speeches that I have heard at institutes. I 
think the reason was that they told what they had done 



REPORT or THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE 93 

rather than what some author said to do. It is all right to 
quote the author, I beheve, if one's position is ques- 
tioned and he needs some authority back of him, but as 
for me, I would rather any time have a speaker say 'I 
did' than to have him say, 'they say.' 

"Well, / did, — I mean we did. We decided to study 
during the autumn months, 'American Pioneers. ' After 
talking at some length about what a pioneer is, we 
decided that he is one that goes before the crowd, that 
leads the way and shows the others how. That is the way 
the children defined the word. 

"I asked the children to bring in the names of the pioneers 
whom they wanted to study about during the autumn. 
Each was to see if he could not find a very interesting 
pioneer of whom no one else would think. Two days were 
to be used in finding the best pioneers before the names 
were to be presented for final selection. 

"It was a joy to see them hunt through the little his- 
torical readers for the particular names that they wanted 
to present, to note their perplexity and observe their dis- 
coveries. Each one guarded his information with that 
kind of anxiousness that always gives away the secret. 
It was a secret, nevertheless. They were saying, 'You can- 
not guess what great pioneer I am going to present. He 
is the best of all.' 

"When the time came to make the selections, all of 
the names were placed upon the board. Each child had 
an opportunity to give a sketch of the character that he 
wanted to present for further study. Twenty names were 
presented. I told them that we should not have time to 
study more than six of them and that it would be neces- 

Successful T— 7 



94 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

sary to select. The following were chosen: — Columbus, 
John Smith, Miles Standish, Daniel Boone, Marquette, 
and Lewis and Clark (considered as one) . 

"In general, this is what was done with each character. 
We agreed upon some large questions that we wanted to 
ask about them. The following are typical: 

What did he do that makes him worthy of our study? 

How did he happen to do this? 

Who helped him to do it? 

What were the most interesting incidents in his life? 

What difficulties did he have? 

How does what he did, affect us? 

"You can see that in finding answers to these questions, 
we had an opportunity particularly for three things ; (One) 
This called for a great deal of reading. Each child knew 
the large general ideas for which he was reading. We have 
an- excellent library in our school and its service has been 
almost one hundred percent of its possibility, in so far as 
our history study has gone. (Two) But the reading has been 
only a preparation for the delightful group conferences 
that we have had. Talk about joy — our history con- 
ferences are the very acme of it. There is but one sorrow 
about them — every child is grieved that he cannot tell all 
of the story. (Three) But both the reading and the dis- 
cussion are together but a preparation for the third stage 
— dramatization. 

"If you had been with us on October 12th and had seen 
the children present 'Columbus, the Pioneer' — their 
own production, at the annual meeting of the Commercial 
Club, you would have realized that children in the lower 
grades of a country school can get the essential facts of 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE 95 

history even better than some of us got them when we 
were in high school. 

"There are six children in our fourth grade. When the 
time came to dramatize, the children decided that they 
wanted to present six scenes in the life of Columbus. They 
elected a captain for each of six groups from these six 
fourth-graders. The scenes were selected, names given 
and the lines definitely marked. Then the battle was on. 
More secrets; more secret conferences; more excited 
whisperings in the corners, cloakrooms and halls. 

"The scenes were: — 

Columbus, the boy, on the seashore. 
Columbus presents his plan to Queen Isabella. 
Columbus says 'Sail On.' 

Columbus takes America in the name of Spain. 
Columbus is received at the court of the Queen. 
Columbus dies in prison. 

"I might go through, in the same way, all of the biog- 
raphies that we have studied but that is unnecessary. I am 
sure that you see how this was done. 

"We did not take up these biographies in just the order 
that they were named. The fact is that at present we are 
working on the life of Miles Standish for, you know, next 
weeks is Thanksgiving. We found some time between to 
study two other types of pioneers. 

"One day after we had studied two of our pioneers of 
the exploring type, I said to the children: 'I wonder if 
there are not some other kinds of pioneers besides these who 
explore the country. I wonder if there are not some other 
things to explore besides new lands.' 



96 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"There was silence, for a minute, and then Clarence 
Dunker said — 'Miss High, wouldn't a fellow be a pioneer 
who thinks of something before anyone else does?' 

"I asked the children what they thought of it. After 
some consideration, they decided that he would be for 
' he goes before the crowd and shows others the way ! ' 

"Immediately, Alvin Rehfield shot his hand up and 
said: 'I know a pioneer of that kind. Robert Fulton who 
invented the steamboat was a pioneer.' Soon other hands 
were up, but I stopped further conversation by telling 
them that on the next day we would let each present a 
name of the kind of pioneer whom he thought we should 
study. 

"The following morning eight names were selected in 
the manner indicated before: Fulton, Stevenson, Morse, 
Marconi, Howe, Arkwright, Edison, and McCormick. 

"The study of these characters does not lend itself so 
readily to dramatization as does the study of the exploring 
pioneers. There is not the same opportunity for the use of 
color in costuming; but even in this kind of study, it is 
astonishing how the child's imagination does work and 
how he will improvise means to show to others what he 
thinks the situation was. The study of this type of pioneer 
is no less rich in possibilities for interesting reading and 
engaging group discussion than is that of a character like 
Columbus. 

"But to me the most interesting study of pioneers is 
the third sort that I have tried. The day we finished the 
study of McCormick and the mowing machine, Margaret 
Ristau said: — 'Miss High, I think that McCormick is the 
most interesting and most important to us of all of the pio- 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE 97 

neers. If it had not been for him, we could not grow so much 
wheat here in our state. We owe our greatness to him.' 

"That statement gave me a thrill, an inspiration, and 
a rebuke. I was delighted that a third-grade child would 
see the connection so clearly. I had an inspiration as to 
what I might do next. I felt rebuked that I had not thought 
of it before. 

"I must confess it to you, that I have always had a sort 
of a notion that the pioneers were all dead. A pioneer 
settled Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, or California. 
He had nothing to do with the place where I live. He is 
some sort of a mythological character shut up in a book, 
and he lived long, long ago and far, far away. Here this 
child had made me see that a pioneer had really affected 
me here in my own state, in Gem County, in Warren. 
He had something to do with the salary that I am receiving 
and the food that I am eating and the kind of house in 
which I live. 

" For once, I lost my speech. I was stunned by a thought. 
Did we not have pioneers, heroes, heroines in the Middle 
West once upon a time? What about those people who 
spent the first winters here in this cold climate without 
houses, on these bleak plains? The situation was far more 
trying than it was for those Puritans who spent their first 
winter on New England's 'stern and rockbound coast,' or 
in the much more temperate chmate of Virginia where 
John Smith and his hardy pioneers felled the trees and 
built a state. 

"I don't know how long I sat stunned into silence with 
the thought, but I was aroused by Everette Cloos saying: 
'What is the matter, Miss High?' 



98 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"I replied that I was just wondering if they knew any 
pioneers, personally. I asked them if they knew of any 
persons around Warren, or in Gem County, who were the 
first to do certain things in this county or this community. 
They did not know any such. This was a good place to 
stop for that day. I asked them to find out the names of 
all the Gem County pioneers that they could by the next 
morning. 

"The next morning they came to school brimful of 
information about local pioneers. They had used the 
telephones during the evening. They had talked to the 
oldest settlers in the neighborhood. Some had gone so far 
as to 'phone up to Amberville and ask the local newspapers 
what they knew. They had found that a man named 
Clarence Johnson was the first man to settle in Gem County. 
James Lindboe was the first child born in the county. 
Rev. Uriah Hopkins was the first preacher. Dr. John 
Amos was the first physician. Brown Brothers owned the 
first automobile. Mr. Bair owned the first aeroplane. 
There were many such items as these presented. 

"When all the other children were through presenting 
the names of their pioneers, then Allen Conlee said: 
'Miss High, I have the very finest of all of the pioneers to 
present. My pioneer is the one who is most akin to us right 
here in this room. All the pioneers whom these children 
have talked about are men, just as if a woman cannot be 
a pioneer. My pioneer is a woman. She lives right here in 
Warren. We see her every day. She has done the finest 
work and made the least fuss about it of any of the pioneers. 
I am talking about Mrs. Mary Sampson who was the first 
teacher in this county. I think we should study about 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE 99 

Mrs. Sampson and the schools of Gem County. I think 
we could get up a play on that subject which would beat 
our Columbus play all to pieces!" 

"Whenever Allen talks, all the children listen. He 
does not speak often. He seems to think that it would be 
wrong for him to tell what anyone else is able to tell. 
They greeted his speech with applause. You will be 
interested to know that the children of my room are now 
writing a play according to his suggestion. They will 
present it the week before Christmas at the annual special 
meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association. 

"It is being kept a secret from Mrs. Sampson. She will 
be taken there to see the role that she has played in local 
history, depicted by this group of budding playwrights 
and theatrical stars. 

"I must not talk longer about what we have done. You 
have all probably done much more. Let me see if I can 
sum up for you what we have done by stating it in a few 
general principles that may be of use to you. In teaching 
history in the lower grades — 

Make use of the material that is rich in human interest and 
dramatic possibilities. 

Create, by well-planned questioning, the curiosity and in- 
terest of the children. Develop the element of competition at the 
time you assign the problem for study. Then be sure that you 
have suitable, interesting, readable material in abundance, to 
supply for their study. 

Make your recitation a pleasure period in which you live 
over with your children in the most realistic way possible the events 
of the story or incident that is under discussion. Let them forget, 
if you can, that it is a lesson. 



lOO SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Stimulate the children's imagination, creative powers, and 
dramatic gifts by letting them live over, in acts as well as thoughts, 
deeds of the character you are studying. 

Make use of the local historical material. This has a civic 
value superior, probably, to all of the other material. 

Maps, pictures, old materials, and costumes are of prime 
importance in the teaching of history. 

''Madam President, I fear that I have sinned against 
time and the audience. If I have, though, I am glad that 
it is a sin of commission and not of omission. Thank you." 

Miss Walker began by saying: "Friends, I was just 
thinking, as I Kstened to Miss High, how much hke little 
children, are the big ones. How much we adults are like 
children, also, I might add. 

"Large children like the game of competition. They 
like .to face difficulties — intellectual difficulties. I believe 
that when children do not enjoy studying it is because they 
are not confronted with anything whicb they think of as 
a problem to be mastered, as a difficulty to be overcome. 
Working merely to get the facts on a certain number of 
pages or to make a good recitation is not sufficient motive 
to prompt a real, red-blooded child to do his best thinking 
and his best investigating. 

''In our schools where there is but one teacher to do all 
of the work, I fear that the children in the lower grades 
do not get their share of attention when it comes to history. 
I am very glad to have heard Miss High tell how she 
handles the subject. I believe I can now improve upon 
my past accomplishments in the lower grades. But we 
have been able to use the lower grades a great deal as 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE lOI 

helpers to the upper grades in their dramatic presenta- 
tion of historical facts. Since the lower grades in a one-room 
school hear all that the upper grades do in history, per- 
haps they do get more from it than we imagine. 

''In a one-room school, as all the teachers here know, 
there is not very much time for anything. We must plan, 
therefore, to save and gain all of the time we can. I do 
this by having but one history class for both my seventh 
and eighth grades, instead of having a class for each. 
Then instead of studying pages in our books, we study 
certain big questions that the book answers. Some of 
those questions we are going to take during this year. 
Others we shall take during next year. 

"I must tell you, though, that I have sweat blood this 
fall in arriving at my decision as to what plan of work I 
was going to use and in gaining facility in the application 
of the plan. Heretofore I have never been satisfied with 
my work in the teaching of history. I have assigned 
certain pages and have asked questions on those pages. 
For me and for the children, that plan was a tax upon the 
memory and did not demand, to a very great extent, 
the use of reason. 

"When I was assigned to this committee, I determined 
to see if I could not arrive at some better plan. Everything 
that I read upon the subject emphasized that history 
should be taught according to the problem method. I 
determined to try it. I could understand the principle on 
which it was based but I had some difficulty in applying it. 
I was not used to it. The children were not accustomed 
to it either. There were old habits to overcome. When we 
first started I did not know how to pick out good problems, 



I02 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

and the children did not know how to proceed in solving 
them. I was frank with them and told them that I did 
not like the old plan and was trying a new one. I asked 
their help in trying out the new plan. It was not long 
before we both began to gain confidence and strength. 
As soon as we began to realize that we were meeting with 
success, our attitude changed from one of painful effort 
to one of enjoyment in the performance of a task in which 
we felt our strength. During the recent weeks our history 
work has been a great pleasure to us. We are now in the 
challenging mood and are wilHng to tackle ahnost any 
problem that comes along. Alexander-like, we are looking 
for more worlds to conquer. 

"That you may understand me, I shall give a few of the 
problems which we have tried and shall try to solve : — 

One. What European nations made discoveries in America? 
Where? When? By whom? Why? 

Two. How did we come to be a nation? 

Three. How did we come to have the form of government that 
we have? 

Four. How, when, and why did our nation grow territorially? 

Five. How and why did our nation grow industrially? 

Six. What wars have we had? Why? Who were the leaders? 
What were the results? 

"These questions will show you how we organize all of 
our historical material around about a dozen large questions 
that we want to answer. Of course there will be scores of 
smaller ones under each of these which will arise naturally 
in the course of investigation and discussion. The chil- 
dren themselves will ask them. All that the teacher has to 
do is to keep one eye on the goal and the other on the 
compass so that she can see where the class is going. 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE I03 

''We give no attention to pages in our book. Some- 
times we bring together a statement on page one and a 
statement on page five hundred to prove a point that is 
under discussion which may have arisen from page two 
hundred. What we want, in fact, is their relation to the 
question which we are trying to solve. I do not hold the 
children responsible for the facts contained within certain 
pages. I do not tax my memory with trying to do that 
either. I hold myself responsible for questions that will 
provoke their interest and guide their discussion to a 
definite end. All that we do together is to hold ourselves 
responsible for answering to our unanimous satisfaction 
the question which has been raised. Our best study and 
discussion comes in bringing about that unanimity of 
opinion. So long as there is one unconvinced, we stay by 
the question and the investigation. 

"Thirty minutes is the usual length of the class. Some- 
times we are in actual discussion only five minutes of that 
time. If we come upon an essential item that no one knows, 
we adjourn and go into a research session until that fact is 
found. Some days we spend the entire time in investiga- 
tion. But when we do come to the class, as the boys say: 
* We make the fur fly.' I prefer to say : ' We make the facts 
fly' for that is what we literally do. 

"It is almost unbelievable to what extent a youngster 
will go in order to prove his point when he believes he is 
right. Instead of studying one text this year, we are study- 
ing a dozen of them. Instead of reading a few hundred 
pages as we would do, if we stuck to the text, we are 
reading a few thousand pages. Old histories which their 
older brothers and sisters studied have been resurrected 



I04 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

from the attic. Old pictures, stereoscopic views, news- 
paper and magazine articles, old pieces of antique furni- 
ture, old guns, old daguerreotype likenesses of their an- 
cestors tenderly encased in the ancient family album — 
all of these things and scores of other items that I do not 
now recall, have been brought into class to illustrate a 
point or to prove their contention that thus and so was 
true or false. 

"Yes, we have been dramatizing some, though not very 
much. Dramatization does not appeal to older children, 
perhaps, quite as much as it does to the younger ones, un- 
less it is to be used for some real occasion. But my chil- 
dren have been getting great fun from something that 
takes the place of dramatization — it is a form of dramatiza- 
tion. I mean pantomimes, charades. They enjoy the 
historical charade above any form of play that they have 
had this session. 

"The school is divided into two teams that are active 
rivals. Myron Sweet is the captain of one team and 
Wilbur Gauge is the captain of the other. They and their 
teams are always on the qui vive for good material for a 
historical charade. I am getting a liberal education watch- 
ing them present their performances. One can see any- 
thing he likes from Columbus walking on the Genoese 
seashore to Goethals digging the Panama canal or Clemen- 
ceau presiding at the Versailles Peace Conference. 

"Children in the lower grades, I take it, are charmed 
by the somewhat mythological, superhuman phases of 
history. In the Upper grades they want the real thing — 
real people, real places, real facts. They still like heroics 
but not impossible heroics. They have passed the good 



\ 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE I05 

fairy stage and they want to study about people who had 
real difficulties to overcome. They do not expect their 
characters to wave a wand and have their wish come true. 
They expect them to work hard, fight hard, sacrifice, 
bleed, die, perhaps, to make their hopes into realities. 
Anything less than this will not challenge their highest 
admiration. 

"If now I can disentangle all of this quinine from its 
sugar coating and give it to you straight, I would say : 

One. Classify your historical material into a few big problems 
and then solve those problems. 

Two. Do little talking yourself. Encourage your children to 
present their facts and argue their case as a lawyer would before 
the court. You are merely the judge to see that justice is done. 

Three. Use the blackboard to summarize the facts of the case. 

Four. Encourage the children to supplement their text with ma- 
terial from any source that will bear upon the point under dis- 
cussion. This will enlist the interest of the community and will 
make a fruitful use of the materials of the child's own environment. 

Five. Stimulate the children to get their play out of historical 
material. This will fix facts in their minds, encourage their in- 
genuity, and broaden their powers of literary and historical 
appreciation. 

Six. Show the children how to use the Index and the Table of 
Contents as a quick and reliable method of finding a needed fact. 

"I have talked so long, I, unlike Miss High, fear you will 
wish that my sin had been one of omission rather than one 
of commission." 

''There is but little left for me to say" — said Miss 
Wyman, who, as president, was presiding at the afternoon 
session. " Civics is so closely related to history that about 
all I shall have to do is to say 'Amen' to what Miss 



Io6 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

High and Miss Walker have said. Civics is the study of 
citizenship. When history has been studied as we have 
had it presented to us this afternoon, it is impossible that 
very excellent civics shall not have been taught. Whenever 
we present a historical fact in the form of a question that 
must be solved; whenever we ask how it was done, by 
whom it was done, why it was done, we are then getting 
situations that are prototypes of the situations that we 
have rising from day to day in our own life. 

"When we ask how those events affect us now, when we 
inquire into the causes, the motives, and the results of 
historical events, we provoke truly normal civic reactions 
and build up within the children truly normal civic ideals. 

"There are just three points that I wish here to em- 
phasize and then we must turn to the other phases of our 
program. Those three points are: 

"First. In order to teach good civics, we must empha- 
size the motives and purposes of an organization even 
more than we do the form. If we emphasize the form only, 
the child will forget the form and then he will have nothing 
left. But if we can get him to enter fully into the pur- 
poses for which certain offices are created or certain 
principles are put into a law or the constitution, he may 
forget the facts but he will have a civic ideal that will 
stay with him. 

"The second point that I wish to make is that civics 
should be taught in connection with real situations. 
When we have arrived at a point in our history study where 
some governmental machinery is created, then is the time 
to study it. We have the background for it. We can see 
the needs for it and the motives in it. We need to study 



REPORT or THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE I07 

it in the light of the personalities that participate in it 
and the interests that they represent. 

''A third point that I want especially to emphasize is 
that we must emphasize more the local phases of civics. 
I fear that we have thought too much of civics as Miss 
High said she had always thought of pioneers. We have 
thought of it as the form of the government located at 
Washington. We have been disposed to believe that we 
were trained in civics when we could name the members 
of the Supreme court, the President's cabinet and the 
senators and representatives from our own state. 

"We must think of civics as a study of the government 
of our own state, county, township, school district, 
village, and school. We must give our discussion about 
government real meaning to the boys and girls even down 
to the very youngest child in our school. The fact is we 
must begin our study of civics in our schools and finally 
get to Washington and to the United States Constitution, 
and the covenant of the League of Nations. Class monitors, 
student helpers, Boy and Girl Scout Organizations, the 
Parent-Teacher Association in our school, the school 
board, the tax assessor, the tax collector, the treasurer, 
all of these offer the best material at our hands for 
the teaching of civics. Let's make civics something that 
we do, as Miss High said, rather than something 'the 
book says.' 

"Before the meeting is adjourned, we are to have some 
humorous readings by Mr. Moore." 

Miss Wyman took her seat. Mr. Moore responded to 
his name with a favorite Riley selection which was appre- 



Io8 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

ciated by the audience. The pastor of the church was 
present with his camera. He took our pictures while we 
were all in laughing mood, after which we started home. 

Hoping that you will be a better citizen than ever 
before as a result of this letter I am, 

Patriotically, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Miss High implies that there is not much necessity for fol- 
lowing a logical sequence in the teaching of history in the primary 
grades. Is this true? If so, why? 

2. I have always felt that an understanding of ancient European 
history was necessary to an appreciation of American history. 
These teachers do not seem to have such a view. Are they wrong 
or am I? 

3. The study of history, when done after this fashion, seems 
to bear quite close relation to silent reading. I wonder if one were 
smart enough, could she not teach reading through history, or 
history through reading? What I mean to say is— "Is there a very 
close line of demarcation between the various subjects in our school 
curriculum?" Might I not take any one of them and teach prac- 
tically everything else if I only knew enough? 

4. Miss Walker seems to think that the chief difference between 
the methods to be applied in teaching history in the lower and 
upper grades is in point of emphasis. In the lower grades, personal- 
ities, biographies of a very heroic sort should be studied, while in 
the upper grades historical issues fought out by real men should be 
centered upon. If this is true, what explanation is there for its 
justification? Of what historical value is a historical charade? 
Why would this be valuable in a one-teacher country school? 

5. Why should motives be emphasized in the teaching of civics? 
Are not knowledge and conduct the things needed? Which of these 
three phases should come first? 



REPORT OF THE HISTORY AND CIVICS COMMITTEE IO9 

6. Could civics as a subject be eliminated from the course of 
study if we teachers knew enough about the subject to teach it 
incidentally? 

7. Miss Wyman speaks of making the study of civics the study 
of local affairs. To what extent, I wonder, might the local officials 
themselves be used with profit in this study? 

8. Is it true that small children in the elementary grades can 
get the idea that they themselves are citizens? Will the under- 
standing of what they should do and why they should do it guar- 
antee that they will do the right thing? If they do not, then what 
should the teacher do? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions : 

Teaching the Common Branches — Charters. Chapter XI. 

The Elementary School, Curriculum — Bonser. Chapters VIII, 
XII. 

The Teacher, the School and the Community — McFee. Chap- 
ter X. 



Successful T.— 8 



CHAPTER X 

COMMUNITY TEAMWORK 

November 30 
Dear Hilda: 

"Teamwork" is the biggest word in my vocabulary 

nowadays. I have never realized before how much more 

can be accomplished, and how much more pleasant an 

.undertaking can be while it is being done, when people 

work together than when they work alone. 

I have the feeling, matured almost to the point of a 
conviction, that the reason why we do not do more team- 
work is because of our selfishness. We are so much afraid 
that we will help the other fellow that we even sacrifice 
all the help that he could render us in order to avoid it. 
It is the old story of "cutting off one's nose to spite his 
face." It would seem that anyone would know that he 
could get more help from a dozen others than he alone 
could give. 

It is with a blush that I now recall some of our thoughts 
and even words on the day of our organization meeting 
on October 3rd. Miss Gallop, our county superintendent, 
had written us that she would like us to cooperate with 
her and Mr. Moore to test the value of supervision. Mr. 
Moore had been at all of our schools and had given the 
Standard Tests. We had gathered for the first teachers' 
meeting of the group. I shall not say whether we had 
gathered through interest or through the spirit of curiosity, 

no 



COMMUNITY TEAMWORK III 

or even of criticism. At any rate, I am certain that our 
attitude was anything but that which is represented by the 
word "teamwork." 

To illustrate to you, let me quote a few of the expres- 
sions which I heard on that day prior to our first meeting: — 

"Do you mean to tell me that we are expected to meet 
once a month for an entire day of discussion?" said one. 

"Yes; and on Saturday, at that," said another. 

"Saturday is my only free day to go to tOwn, to do my 
laundering, and do a thousand other things that a teacher 
has to do. Besides, we are not paid for Saturday," another 
added. 

"We get little enough for our work as it is. If the school 
board, or the county superintendent, or anyone else 
wants us to do this work, let him pay us for it," someone 
else chimed in. 

"What will we get out of this, anyway? Our salaries 
will not be raised a dollar. It will cost us time and a good 
deal of money to get to these meetings that are to be held 
throughout this end of the county— all the way from 
Dan to Beersheba. I don't propose" — but Miss Gallop 
and Mr. Moore came in just at that juncture, and the 
discussion was cut short. I don't know what might have 
happened if the discussion had progressed much further. 

You can see, Hilda, we were rapidly getting to the point 
of believing ourselves very much wronged. We were 
imagining ourselves duped to serve the purposes of 
another. We were overlooking entirely what we were to 
gain. We did not see that our work was to be studied for 
the benefit of many other teachers. Not once did we think 
of the social pleasure that would be derived from our com- 



112 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

ing together. We did not consider the service that might 
be rendered these poor little rural communities by having 
meetings of an unusual character held in them. Our 
professional growth was put entirely out of sight. No, 
we were suspicious that someone else might profit from 
our work. That was sufficient. I am sure that there is 
not one of the number who would not now blush to recall 
the words of that little comedy which served as the pro- 
logue of the big drama that we are now playing. 

By the end of that first meeting we had each and all 
realized what we had gained by our cooperative effort. 
In one short session we had learned how to score that 
particular Standard Test in Reading. We had learned 
how to figure a class "Median;" we understood what the 
"Mode" of the class meant. We could see what the upper 
quarter, the lower quarter, and the middle half of the class 
distribution were. We had come to have some under- 
standing of the relation of speed to quality in reading. 
We had caught a glimpse of our possibilities as teachers 
of that subject. 

Suppose we had been working alone to master the same 
facts. It would have taken us days, possibly weeks to have 
mastered the same thought. The tragedy of it is that we 
probably would not have mastered it at all. People do 
not work much when working alone. It takes contact to 
cause us to work. Sociologists have shown that the great 
people come from the crowded sections of our country. It 
takes the crowd to develop in the individual the impulse 
to act. 

When the next meeting was held on November ist, 
here at my little school, I saw some more evidences of the 



COMMUNITY TEAMWORK II3 

benefit of teamwork. Never before in the history of our 
school, probably, had all the people of the district gotten 
together to do their best in the entertainment of a group 
of outsiders. They found genuine pleasure in doing it and 
are now proud of themselves on account of their accomp- 
lishment. From the time the committee got together to 
plan their meal until the last person was served, there was 
teamwork. One provided one thing, another another 
thing, until the entire meal had been arranged. In the 
serving of the meal, each hostess had her own particular 
part to perform. There was no duplication of materials or 
effort. 

I have already told you of the work done by the teachers' 
committee at the afternoon session of that day. You will 
see that there was teamwork in that committee. So well 
did it plan its work that there was no repetition, and yet 
all that was said fit so well into everything else that was 
said, that it might easily have been the discussion of one 
person. 

What I have said of the meeting at my school on Novem- 
ber ist might have been said with an equal amount of 
truth about the meeting held on November 2 2d at Miss 
Fish's school. The fact is that the spirit of teamwork 
seems to have gripped us — teachers and patrons. 

The thought that is now taking possesssion of me is: 
To what extent might this idea be carried if it were prop- 
erly cultivated? Already I see that the children may be 
taken into the game just as well as the adults. During this 
month we are doing some interesting work in spelling. 
Every teacher and child in the zone is cooperating in it. 
I dare say that every parent is, also. From what I know 



114 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

of the situation in my district, that is true. I shall tell 
you more of this in my next letter. 

If such is true of this small organization of ours, I won- 
der if it might not be true of a much larger organization. 
It was true of us during the war. As a nation, we all did 
fine teamwork. We saved our money. We "hooverized" 
on the various kinds of food that were needed by our 
soldiers. We contributed to the various funds that were 
collected; we made bandages and garments for the Red 
Cross. We did teamwork. 

Since the war, we seem to have lost the art of cooperat- 
ing. We, like the biblical hog, seem to have returned to 
the mire. We seem to be afraid that someone else will 
get the credit. We seem to think that everybody but our- 
selves fell down on the job which he was supposed to per- 
form. 

That attitude in us is pitiful, tragic, even, when it 
applies to national affairs. It is even worse, I feel, when it 
is manifested in matters of a local nature. When it is 
someone off at Washington, of whom we are suspicious or 
at whom we are hurling our anathemas, it may give us 
relief to give vent to our feelings, and yet it may not do 
him very much harm. If, though, it is someone very close 
to us, the damage may be irreparable. 

What I am most interested in, therefore, is local team- 
work. I wonder if it might not be possible for us, locally, 
to forget that we are Democrats and Republicans, that 
we are townfolk and country folk, that we are Protestants 
and Catholics, Christians and Jews. I wonder if we could 
not develop the idea that we are, first of all, human beings 
and members of a common society. We owe a debt to all 



COMMUNITY TEAMWORK II5 

of society that is greater than that which we owe to any 
section of it, with the exception of our own family for 
whom we are chiefly responsible. 

I have been thinking of what might be accomplished in 
a county if the various forces were really to cooperate, 
do real teamwork. What might we teachers accomplish 
if we conceived some big piece of work for our county 
and then put our "shoulders to the wheel" to carry it 
through! What a service the ministers of a county could 
render if they would forget their own little congregations 
and the particular dogmas of their special creeds! What 
miracles might the physicians of a county perform within 
one month if they were to go cooperatively into the miracle 
business! What a mass of legal misunderstanding and 
community discord might the lawyers prevent if they set 
themselves the task of mass service! Suppose that all of 
the community service agencies of a county, such as the 
County Superintendent of Schools, the Agricultural Agent, 
the Home Demonstration Agent, the Red Cross Nurse 
and the County Physician were to cooperate in a series 
of "revivals" for the purpose of educating the public 
along health lines, don't you think they could do more in 
one month to awaken the intelligence of the county than 
they all do now during an entire year? I do. 

There is no subject about which the public is more 
ignorant and at the same time in which it is more interested 
than the matter of taxes. Can you think of anything that 
would do more to educate the people than a series of 
institutes held in various communities of a county for the 
purpose of informing and instructing the public about the 
county government. The amount of money needed, 



Il6 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

how it is assessed, how it is collected, how it is distributed, 
how it is sometimes wasted, how it might be conserved. 
Every officer of the county, from County Commissoner 
or Police Juror up to the State Senator, should be drafted 
at intervals to serve as a part of a "flying squadron" to 
tell the people about their government. Such teamwork 
on the part of our officials would do much to make us 
pleased with our governments and make us more intelHgent 
and responsible citizens. 

We teachers are sometimes blamed for our ignorance 
along the civic and political lines. We cannot know 
everything. What I think we should be blamed for, though, 
is for not drafting all of the other people in a county to 
assist us in teaching the public. There are plenty of people 
who know much more about their work than we do. We 
should never teach anything if we can find someone else 
who can teach it better than we ourselves can. If we can 
draft him into the service, he will not only do a good piece 
of work that the people need to have done, but he will be 
our friend forever, because we gave him the opportunity 
to do it. 

As I said once before, our task must be that of dis- 
covering talent. We must discover it in our boys and girls, 
to be sure, but we must also discover it in the men and 
woman who are around us. One of the biggest discoveries 
we make must be to discover the teachers of our com- 
munity and our county. We must realize that they are 
engaged in all sorts of business. Some can teach by tell- 
ing what to do. Many more can teach by showing how 
to do. The latter are the persons, especially, whom we 
must get into the teaching game. If we could just find 



COMMUNITY TEAMWORK II7 

all of these people and get them to show to others what 
they can do, we would be benefactors, indeed. To do this 
would be to develop teamwork of the very best kind. 

There is another idea, Hilda, which we as teachers 
must get more clearly in mind than we have formerly — 
that is, that it is not what others do for people but what 
people themselves do which educates and benefits them 
most. We must get the people also to realize this fact. 

Mr. jMoore told me a story recently, of two towns in 
Oregon with which he is familiar, which illustrates the 
point which I have in mind. One of those towns was 
Korvallia, the other was Allison, a smaller town in 
the same county which is located beyond the Coast 
Range mountains, down near the Pacific. 

Korvallia wished to hear some good music. It secured 
as one of its musical attractions for the season Sousa's 
Band. To do so, cost it several thousand dollars. The 
band came, rendered its program and went away. The 
music was greatly enjoyed, of course, but when it had 
gone, there was left nothing but a memory. 

Allison, on the other hand, had a musical aspiration. It 
employed David South as the principal of its school. 
David South was not only a teacher of the ordinary sub- 
jects; he was a discoverer of human gifts, particularly 
musical gifts. It was not long before he had organized a 
band which contained fifty pieces. A large percentage of 
the community — young, old and middle-aged — were co- 
operating in the production of music. He worked for 
three years as the principal of that school. For less money 
than Korvallia had paid for an evening's entertainment, 
Allison had secured the service of David South for three 



Il8 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

years. South did the work for which he was employed, 
but in addition, he trained a band. When he left, there 
remained behind him in the aesthetic ideals and in the 
motor habits of the people, a power both to appreciate 
music and to produce it. I submit to you the question: 
Which of those communities had made the wiser invest- 
ment of its funds? 

Suppose that we, as teachers, had the skill of making 
the people conscious of their own latent powers. Suppose 
that we ourselves not only had the power to lead in a 
number of activities but the gift of finding others to lead 
in many more. If we could do this, we could have many 
teams cooperating to pull the community load toward 
social betterment. 

Let us, then, not be so busy pulling in our own little 
team, or driving our little team, as the case may be, that 
we fail to see the other possible good teams that are graz- 
ing in the pastures, unused and unhappy. Let's discover 
all of the good draft horses and team drivers of our com- 
munity and ^et them into the big game of carrying forward 
the load of community needs. If we can do this, there is 
no danger of lack of progress because of lack of motive 
power. 

In the spirit to pull, I am 

Your Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. Those teachers certainly were starting out in an ugly mood. 
I wonder what was the cause of such a spirit among them? Could 
such a spirit of suspicion be found among other groups besides 
teachers? 



I 



COMMUNITY TEAMWORK IIQ 

2. Is it possible that the town is providing more great men than 
is the country? 

3. What are the things which a group of from ten to twenty 
teachers when working together can do better than when working 
separately? 

4. What are some of the things that have been accomplished 
by rural people when they did teamwork? Could practically any 
rural village have a band hke that one at Allison? 

5. Could I arrange for an "institute on wheels," composed 
of the officials of my county, to educate the people of my com- 
munity? What are the topics that I would like to have dis- 
cussed in my own community? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Social Psychology — Ross. Chapter II. 

Constructive Rural Sociology — Gillette. Chapters XVI, XVIII. 

The Social Environment — Davies. 



CHAPTER XI 

A NEW TYPE OF SPELLING MATCH OCCURS AT WARREN 

December 19 
Dear Hilda: 

Christmas holidays are here. They really started for 
us to-day instead of to-morrow as they normally should. 
This was spelling month with us in our demonstration 
district and we concluded it with an oral spelling match 
at Warren to-day. We usually hold our teachers' meeting 
on Saturday but this time we decided to hold it on Friday 
so that the plans for the holiday vacation would not be 
interfered with. 

The plan for the meeting differed somewhat this time 
from that formerly used. The purpose of this meeting 
was primarily social (I shall discuss the match later in 
the letter). During this month we have been making 
spelling our special interest. Instead of taking for our 
work the words in the regularly adopted spelling book, 
we made up our own list of words. All of the people in 
this demonstration district are farmers. Mr. Moore 
suggested that we take Gem County and its historical, 
agricultural, and social interests as the basis for our spell- 
ing for the month. This we did. For the first ten days of 
the month we selected words for our spelling lists. We had 
a special topic on which to select words for each day. 
The entire school participated in making the lists, that is, 
all the children of each school were in one spelling class 

120 



THE SPELLING MATCH AT WARREN 121 

during those days. Each child contributed whatever he 
could. When each school had completed its list on the ten 
topics, it sent its ten word lists to Mr. Moore who took 
them, put them together and made a spelling book which 
contained all of the words that had been sent in from all 
of the fifteen schools. The following are the ten subjects 
used: 

1. Words dealing with the history of Gem County. 

2. Words dealing with Gem County soil. 

3. Words dealing with Gem County crops. 

4. Words dealing with crop pests in Gem County. 

5. Words that relate to some allies of Gem County farmers. 

6. Words dealing with pure-bred animals and fowls in Gem 
County. 

7. Words relating to an up-to-date Gem County barn. 

8. Words relating to an up-to-date Gem County farm. 

9. Words relating to an up-to-date Gem County country 
home. 

10. Words relating to an up-to-date country community in 
Gem County. 

It was a joy to see my pupils work on the preparation of 
these ten Hsts. Heretofore I have usually assigned from 
four to eight words in the spelling book as a lesson. Dur- 
ing the ten days that we were making the lists, I 
said: "Now, bring in for to-morrow as many words as 
you can find that relate to our particular subject." Some- 
times a child who would grumble over five words in an 
ordinary spelHng lesson would bring in a list of twenty-five 
words and be thrilled over his accomplishment The more 
words he found on the subject, the happier he Vv'ould be. 

Our school list for each day was compiled by making a 
composite list of all the appropriate words that were 



122 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

brought in by all the pupils. One would write the words 
on the board as the others made their contributions. We 
would let the little children give their words first. It was al- 
ways great sport for them if they had found so many that 
the children in the upper grades could not add to the list. 
The children learned more about the library and its con- 
tents during the ten days in which they were making 
their spelling books than they had during all of their 
previous school lives. They have dug into the encyclopedia, 
read the state histories, gone over some ancient scrap- 
books which were in the community, studied the county 
map, gone over with microscope and fine-tooth comb every 
old farm paper and report of the Department of Agricul- 
ture that they could find in the bottom part of the book- 
case or the dark corner of the coal shed. They have put 
questions to everyone that came around them and have 
made life take on a new interest for their parents by de- 
manding each night some words which applied to an up- 
to-date this or an up-to-date that. 

Just as I said in a previous letter, Hilda, children, if 
given half a chance, will educate themselves and be happy 
while doing it. If we teachers were only shrewd enough to 
arrange the situations so as to challenge the child's interest 
and ability instead of making him conscious of a monot- 
onous chore, if we could do this, we would change the 
whole atmosphere and result of school life. 

Life should never grow stale. Every year of one's life 
should be as rich as are the first five, in so far as live interests 
and desire to learn are concerned. The information that 
we acquire throughout our whole lives should be acquired 
just as naturally and as eagerly as it is during those first 



THE SPELLING MATCH AT WARREN 1 23 

five years. As a matter of fact, our interest is an evergreen, 
a perennial. Its appetite does change somewhat, it feeds 
upon different foods at different stages, but it should al- 
ways be keen and relish whatever it takes. 

We teachers must be better pedagogical cooks in the 
future. We must study people's intellectual appetites and 
put before them the things which they naturally crave or 
else cultivate their appetites so wisely that they will crave 
the things that are put before them. That is what we did 
last summer in our cook car, Hilda. If we as cooks would 
go to the trouble to think in order that we might get a 
"harvest hand" to eat and be happy, why will we not 
think equally as earnestly to get a "school child to eat 
his intellectual food and be happy?" 

The cafeteria takes into account individual differences; 
too often the school does not. At the cafeterias they do 
not expect all of the people to eat the same things nor 
the same amounts of what they do eat. There they put 
the dishes out to tempt the diners, and each person takes 
the thing that appeals to him most. But in our schools we 
line up our children in a row, set before them certain in- 
tellectual dishes, and say to them: "Here it is, eat it. 
I hope you like it, but whether you do or not, eat it. I 
show no partiality in my school. You each have the 
same amount and you must each eat all that is set be- 
fore you. If you do not eat it now, it will be set before 
you next time. Remember, eating is not a privilege, it 
is a duty. You must eat as a duty to yourself and to 
society." 

Hilda, I submit it to you: Just how long would you 
enjoy your meals if you had them set before you in this 



124 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

manner three times every day? I am willing to wager 
that you, — you who enjoy eating so well — would go on 
a food strike in less than a week. Is it any wonder that 
many of our most healthy boys — physically— go on a brain- 
food strike when it is put before them after this fashion? 
All that we, as teachers, seem to know is that certain 
information, certain knowledge, is useful in later life. 
So we block it out in daily rations, and require the chil- 
dren to take it according to written prescriptions. We 
do not study the child's appetite, his capacity, his 
nationality, or anything except what we conceive his 
"later life" needs to be. 

Occasionally it becomes necessary for a physician to 
give us, in the form of a tonic, some element which our 
bodies demand but which we have not had supplied through 
the normal avenues. All good physicians tell us that it is 
better and easier to get iron through eating certain foods 
than it is through medicine, and certainly it is much more 
palatable. Let's stop making medicine out of our mental 
foods and discover ways to get our children to eat the 
things that they need and do so in a way that will be a 
pleasure to them while doing it. 

But I was going to tell you about the spelling match. 
The teachers' club held its meeting from lo to ii in the 
forenoon. It had to be brief for there was so much that 
was to follow. We had two-minute reports from all of the 
teachers on the devices used during the month in the 
teaching of spelling. The variety was great and the clever- 
ness of some was noteworthy. After the spelhng reports 
were given, Mr. Moore took thirty minutes to discuss 



THE SPELLING MATCH AT WARREN 



125 



the work to be done in arithmetic during January. I 
shall tell you about that next month. 

At eleven o'clock the match began. For the sake of fun 
and community interest, it was arranged to have the 
children all spell against the adults. The big point of this 



i^/'^^J^l^''^ 




A SPELLING MATCH IN WHICH ALL TOOK PART 

match was not how well anyone spelled but rather whether 
or not everyone spelled who was present. On the one 
side were all of the children from the second to the eighth 
grade. On the other side were the adults — everyone from 
the farm hands to the county superintendent and the head 
of the rural department of the normal school. The chil- 
dren had some advantage, to be sure. To begin with, 
they had prepared the spelling book and had two weeks in 
which to study the words as a preparation for the match. 

Successful T. — g 



126 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

It is needless, therefore, to say who won in this oral con- 
test. Even though the children were supposed to learn to 
spell only those words which were easy for them and suit- 
able to their grades, it was found that many of the smallest 
children could spell even the most difficult words. It was 
rich to see some teacher or school board member or prom- 
inent citizen go down on some word like "fungicide," 
"Percheron" or "irrigation," and then have some little 
chap in an elementary grade spell it. 

The contest was over by noon. Mr. Moore announced 
that this spelling match was but a sample and a sugges- 
tion of the big spelling match which we shall have at 
Marshfield next May. 

The noon hour was a very pleasant one. The children 
and the citizens of the entire Demonstration Zone got 
acquainted with each other. Warren served hot lunch 
to all. In the afternoon we had an interesting program. 
First, the children who were the champions for their 
several grades, in the various subjects tested by the 
Standard Tests given in September, were introduced to 
the audience. Then each school represented, gave a little 
three-minute stunt so that everyone might see who every- 
one else was. After this the meeting closed by having 
short talks by two professors from the normal school, by 
the two county superintendents who were present, by the 
county agricultural agent for this county, and by a visiting 
school official from the state department of education in 
Nebraska. Each speaker had a message of optimism and 
encouragement for rural teachers and rural people. 

Throughout the day the thing which was interesting me 
most was the number of people who were participating in 



THE SPELLING MATCH AT WARREN 1 27 

the program. There were more than two hundred people 
present and every one of them felt that the success of the 
meeting in some way depended upon him. Say what you 
may, Hilda, everyone likes to work, likes to feel that he 
counts in the world's affairs. Our big job as teachers and 
as citizens is to discover genius and get it to work on the 
job that it can do best. We have individual genius and 
social genius. We need both. We must discover both 
sorts, develop both sorts and use both sorts. I see from 
to-day's meeting that there is plenty of social genius 
out here on these plains but we need social farmers to 
cultivate the crop. A spelling match of the sort we had 
to-day is one way to plant social seed, to germinate social 
seed, and cultivate the plant of social genius. 

I shall see you the day after Christmas at Minneapolis. 
My patrons here insist that I visit with them until after 
Christmas day. It is both inspiring and pathetic to see 
the spirit which they manifest. How can anyone teach 
and fail to enjoy the work, love the children and the 
people? I have always felt this way about the children 
and the people. The thing that has discouraged me in the 
past about the school work was the absence of professional 
companionship and inspiration. But now that we have 
Mr. Moore, that deficiency has been suppHed. None of 
the fears that I had at the beginning of the year have come 
true and every hope is being realized. I wish you could 
see how my children and my people love Mr. Moore. 
To-morrow morning I am going to pack a Christmas box 
as a surprise for him from our school. Each of the chil- 
dren has made some little gift for him or for some member 
of his family, and every family represented in the school 



128 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

is contributing at least two things to the box. The Worthy 
children are presenting their fattest duck and a half 
gallon of chowchow; Helen Inkle is giving a quart of jelly 
and two pounds of butter; Mamie Grout is to bring half a 
gallon of strained honey and a pound of butter; the Simon 
children are giving a chicken and a fruit cake; and the 
Schumann children are giving five pounds of sugar (you 
know what that means now at the present price of sugar) 
and two pounds of home-made sausage. You see we are 
making it a big Christmas. It is all a proof of what I have 
always believed, viz., that if our school-teachers and school 
officials would show some real personal interest and gen- 
uine loyalty to the rural people, the hearty response would 
not be lacking. 

Wishing you a royal Christmas, I am 

Devotedly, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. That spelling match and what went before it in the way of 
preparation interests me very much. I am a little puzzled, though, 
why it should have been called "spelling." Might not the work 
with just as much accuracy, have been called agriculture, sociology, 
economics, local history, or community civics? 

2. I note that the children supplied the words which were to 
be spelled. Is there any pedagogical advantage to be gained by 
such procedure? Was there any advantage in the consciousness 
of the children of each school that the children of a number of 
other schools were making lists on the same subjects? What 
effect had the approaching match at which the children were to 
compete with the adults? Could the ordinary spelling lessons have 
prompted them to have done so much investigating? What are 
the weaknesses of such a plan for the teaching of spelling? 



THE SPELLING MATCH AT WARREN 1 29 

3. Martha says that every year of one's life should be as full of 
new, live interests as are the earlier years of a child's life. Why do 
our interests become fewer? Why do we lose the spirit of in- 
vestigation which we have in our childhood? 

4. I certainly have enjoyed my experience with Martha while 
we were serving as a part of the threshing crew but I think I could 
appreciate what she is saying without having it so often illustrated 
by our experience. She is right, though, that 1 would strike at 
once if my food were offered to me as I offer knowledge to children 
at school. I wonder if this illustration does fairly represent what 
other teachers do? 

5. What are the purposes served by such a meeting as that held 
at Warren? Among those present were children, parents, teachers, 
helping-teacher, county superintendents, normal school instructors, 
and outside educational visitors. What did each contribute to the 
success of the meeting? What should each receive from such a 
meeting? 

6. Martha's people seem very appreciative of both her and the 
helping-teacher. Is this attitude peculiar to the people of her 
district? Who is responsible for that attitude — the people them- 
selves, ]\Iartha, or Mr. Moore? Should such a gift as her children 
presented to Mr. Moore be encouraged? Why? Why not? Are 
teachers and supervisory officers really responsible for patrons not 
showing that spirit of appreciation? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

New Schools for Old — Dewey. Chapter V. 

A Guide to the Teaching of Spelling — Pryor and Pittman. Part 
n, Chapter V. 

Our Public Schools— Corson. Chapters XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX. 

Rural Life and the Rural School — Kennedy. Chapter X. 

The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee. Chap- 
ters XIX, XX. 



CHAPTER XII 

MARTHA DELVES INTO THE PROJECT METHOD 

Sunday, January i8 
Dear Hilda: 

I have not forgotten my promise to write you as soon 
as I knew all about the Project Method of Teaching. The 
fact is that I have decided to write you long before that 
time. If I waited as long as that, I fear you would be 
advertising for me. 

During the two weeks since my return, I have taught 
school all day — arithmetic especially — and each night I 
have studied the theory of the Project Method and the 
philosophy upon which it is based. 

Sometimes I have thought that I was getting very wise — 
was a philosopher, so to speak. Sometimes I have felt 
that I was absolutely lost. I was not certain whether I 
was entirely lacking in sense or whether I merely had 
"scrambled brains." 

According to my plans I stopped in Amberville and saw 
Mr. Moore on my return from the city. He loaded me 
down with material from which he said I could get all of 
the information I needed about the Project Method. He 
told me to read especially "My Pedagogic Creed" and 
"Democracy and Education," both by John Dewey, and 
"The Project Method" by WilHam Heard Kilpatrick. 
Kilpatrick, he said, was a great teacher, and John Dewey, 
he said, was a great philosopher. Besides these, he gave 

130 



THE PROJECT METHOD I31 

me a number of articles by people whom he called "The 
Lesser Lights." 

I came home with a very proud and haughty manner, 
I fear. I was "getting up in the world." I was " studying 
philosophy." I was attending Columbia University and 
getting instruction from some of the world's most famous 
teachers. I was hobnobbing with the world's educationally 
elite. I looked at Miss Bogard's and Miss St. John's 
schools as I came by in a very Pharisaical spirit. I had a 
feeling of "I am educationally more holy than thou. I am 
studying the Project Method." 

Well, I lost that very superior attitude just fifteen 
minutes after supper. I usually help Mrs. Worthy with the 
dishes and help get the breakfast plans started before I be- 
gin my evening study. But that night I excused myself by 
saying that I "just had to get into the Project Method." 

I started to read Dr. Kilpatrick's article first. I got 
through the first paragraph fairly well. I began to feel 
that great educators and philosophers talk just as you and 
I do. But in the middle of the second paragraph I came 
upon this statement: — "It must at the same time pro- 
vide a place for the adequate utilization of the laws of 
learning, and no less for the essential elements of the 
ethical quality of conduct." Right then I began to realize 
that he was using the English language all right, but not 
my vocabulary. He was talking about the manipulation 
of some intellectual materials with the same sort of ease 
that you and I would talk about the manipulation of soda, 
salt, flour, milk, etc., in the making of a cake. To him 
those things seemed very simple, plain, concrete. To me, 
they were very complex, obscure, abstract. 



132 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

I read on and came to this: "In proportion as such a 
unifying concept could be found, in Kke proportion would 
the work of presenting educational theory be facilitated ; in 
the same proportion should be the rapid spread of educa- 
tional practice." I began to be dizzy. I began to wish that 
I was in the kitchen drying the dishes. I knew I could han- 
dle them. I began to doubt my ability to handle these ideas. 

On the next page I found some relief. He began to talk 
about a girl making a dress. That sounded like the Fashion 
Plate, so I read on. I had moments of hopefulness quickly 
succeeded by centuries of despair until I got over — I do 
not say read — that article. 

When I was through with it that first time, there was 
but one idea even loosely lodged in my mind. That would 
not have been, if it had not been so often repeated. That 
idea was a sort of a definition of a project. I have been 
memorizing definitions all my life, so, naturally, the first 
thing I did was to look for some sort of definition. The 
definition as I got it is "A project is a whole-hearted pur- 
poseful act carried on amid social surroundings." 

I began to mumble, mull over, meditate upon these 
words: "Act," "purposeful act," "whole-hearted pur- 
poseful act," "carried on," "carried on amid surround- 
ing," "amid social surroundings." "A project is a whole- 
hearted purposeful act." "By whom," I asked. "Under 
what conditions," I wondered. "Amid social surroundings" 
came the answer. Then, I thought that Robinson Crusoe 
must not have had any projects, if social surroundings 
were necessary. 

Two hours had passed before I had finished my first 
reading of that Kilpatrick article. I mean my first effort 



THE PROJECT METHOD I33 

at reading. I have read it a number of times since. I 
shall tell you about that later. 

"My Pedagogic Creed" looked interesting, so I turned 
to it next. There were three things about it that appealed 
to me. First, it had the word "Pedagogic" in it. I am a 
teacher, so I liked to roll that word off my tongue. It 
sounded so scholarly. The second reason was because it 
was a "creed." I am an Episcopalian, you know, so the 
words "I beheve" seemed very natural and satisfying to 
me. The third feature of it which had a charm for me was 
its brevity. We teachers too often select our professional 
books for their brevity. I read it over the hrst time as I 
used to read "The Psalm of Life." There was a rhythm 
and a grandeur in the sound of it. Much of it was as 
meaningless to me as was my church creed when I com- 
mitted it to memory but I accepted it as good because it 
was a "creed," a "pedagogic creed." 

I retired that night in a very pedagogically religious 
mood. You see I had been reading a "creed." It made no 
difference that I did not yet comprehend its meaning. It 
had a religious tone to it, so I was educationally religious. 
Pedagogical piety was about to possess me. In my bed- 
side devotions that night I fear that my creeds were some- 
what confused and that whatever my lips may have said 
in words of prayer, my mind was saying: "A Project is a 
whole-hearted, purposeful act carried on amid social 
surroundings." 

During the next two days — I mean nights — I read 
"The Lesser Lights." I hesitated to attack the big book — 
"Democracy and Education" by the "great philosopher," 
John Dewey. You see, since I have always lived in Stygian 



134 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

darkness, I had to get accustomed to the light by degrees. 
It is well that I did, for when I began reading "Democracy 
and Education," I found that I was not able to see any- 
thing. I suppose I must have been so blinded by the 
intensity of the light. 

What I am ashamed to confess to you is, the words 
seemed to be simple and yet I could not get the ideas 
which they were supposed to convey. What was the 
trouble? There is a theory, I believe, that there are 
sounds so great that we cannot hear them, just as there are 
sounds so small that the human ear cannot catch them. 
Likewise, I suppose, there are ideas so large that they can- 
not be grasped. I have long heard about the fellow who 
could get only so much as his own cup would hold. Here, 
I discovered that I must have a very small cup for I could 
read a chapter and not get the faintest suspicion of what 
Mr. Dewey was trying to tell me. 

My teachers and parents used to urge me not to mark 
my books. As a matter of appearance, that is all right. 
For the purpose of getting the greatest amount of good 
out of the book, though, I doubt very much the wisdom 
of such advice. I found that Mr. Moore had marked this 
book on every page. These marks helped me very much. 
They served me as the blazed trees served the pioneers 
in their early efforts to find their way through the forests. 
Whenever I found a marked passage, I thought — "well, 
he must have found some gold here," so I would dig down a 
little deeper to see if I also could not find a nugget or two. 

I read the book through once. Before I finished it, 
I began to "come, to my senses," as the children say. I 
began to get the idea of what it was all about. When 



THE PROJECT METHOD I35 

I had completed it, I then took a day to try to live over and 
recall the main ideas that I had gotten. In my efforts to 
review the book mentally I found myself "stuck" in a 
great many places. 

I then started to read it again. This time I did not read 
it page after page and chapter after chapter, just as they 
came in the book; I took them up and read them for the 
purpose of answering my questions. I do not have all 
of my questions answered yet. The more I know about this 
philosophy of "Democracy and Education," educating a 
democracy, educating for a democracy, educating by 
and through democratic methods, I say, the more I know 
of this, the more questions I shall have to ask. 

I find that this book is a kind of a Teachers' Bible. It 
is a book that cannot be digested at one sitting. One 
needs to get a text from it and then think it over from 
many angles and see its application. Like the Bible, 
certain great principles run all through it. When the 
fundamental principles are really clear, then it becomes 
easy to relate a multitude of isolated and disconnected 
facts to those principles. 

The big principles, as I got them, are mainly these: 

1. We are educated only through experience. Expe- 
rience is not just a happening. It is a happening of which 
we are conscious. Two people may see the same thing 
and have an entirely different experience because of the 
impression that the sight makes upon them. 

2. The purpose of the school is to educate. Since we 
are educated only through experience, then, the purpose 
of the school should be to give those experiences that will 
educate to the end desired. 



136 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

3. Our nation is a nation with a democratic ideal. Our 
age is an age in which democracy is the goal toward which 
we strive. Therefore, our school should be a school in 
which the experiences, the education, should develop 
the child so that he will feel at ease in society when he 
gets through with his school and takes up his place as a 
responsible person in it. 

4. If our school is to give such experiences, such educa- 
tion, it must be an institution where the child can work 
approximately as he will have to work when he gets 
through school. 

5. Our schools are not now such places. At present, 
they are autocratic. The teacher is the ruler. The child 
has no voice in his government. He has no responsibility. 
It is all the teacher's responsibility. He is allowed no 
initiative. The teacher initiates everything. He does not 
need to have judgment for he has no opportunity to use 
it. The teacher decides all mooted questions. 

6. If our schools are to become democratic institutions 
in which democracy is practiced and democrats educated, 
then it must undergo many changes. The teachers must 
stand more in the background. They must inspire child 
initiative, child organization, child judgment, child ap- 
plication of fundamental principles to specific problems. 
It must become an institution in which the child can 
experience more things in a direct way, by actually doing 
them, instead of just studying a book about them. It 
must be a place where children meet as they do in life, 
as the boys do on the playground in vacation time. There 
must be a larger opportunity to act naturally and then to 
see the consequences of their acts, than is now possible in 



THE PROJECT METHOD 137 

our schools where the natural inclinations are restrained 
by the teachers. The schools must have, probably, different 
books, furniture, supplies, from those they now have. It 
may be that the entire community will become the school 
and that the school will be a part of the whole community. 

The above six statements are not all that Mr. Dewey 
says in his book. Those six points, though, will perhaps 
give you an idea of the principles upon which he bases his 
arguments and to which he ties a multitude of other ideas. 

When I was through reading the book the second time, 
I was then ready to return to my "Great Teacher" and 
to "The Lesser Lights" to see if I could find out how the 
Dewey philosophy was to be transformed into classroom 
practice. 

I have found it sometimes easier to state an abstract 
principle than it was to provide the machinery to trans- 
form a principle into current practice. Our national 
Senate is now having a very warm conversation over 
such a proposition. During the war we all agreed, without 
reference to party, that the world MUST do something to 
prevent wars in the future. The League of Nations was 
fonned to accomplish that universally desired end. But 
the Senate seems not to be able to agree as to whether or 
not the machinery will work. I turned from my reading 
of Mr. Dewey's "Fourteen Points" as it were, to the study 
of the Project Method to see if it contained any dis- 
putable "Article X" that might prevent its acceptance 
by all parties in our "body pedagogical." 

Upon this reading of Dr. Kilpatrick's article, I found 
myself much more able to understand what he is talking 
about. There are still a number of expressions that he 



138 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

uses that are " Greek" to me. I presume they are psycho- 
logical and sociological terms. I have some intimations 
of what they mean but I do not fully understand them. 
They perplex me. They provoke me because they make 
me get off of my pedagogical pedestal and admit that I 
am still mired in the clay of professional ignorance. I WILL 
yet understand, though, what those expressions mean, 
Hilda; I tell you I WILL know! 

As suggested before, the general purpose of Kilpatrick's 
article is to present a workable plan by which the Dewey 
philosophy may be applied to classroom practice. It is 
the constitution and by-laws, so to speak, of the school 
government, the spirit of which, Dewey presents in his 
"Democracy and Education." Dewey presents the 
"what.'' Kilpatrick suggests the ''how" to educate for 
democracy. 

I shall confine my discussion of the Project to what Dr. 
Kilpatrick says and not confuse you with what the "Lesser 
Lights" say. As is the case in the development of any 
reform, there will be divisions into groups and differences 
of opinion as the reform advances. The "Lesser Lights" 
seem to be somewhat confused as to just what a Project 
is. They are not clear either as to the type of material 
with which it may deal. Neither are they certain whether 
or not the child must start it himself or may have it 
inspired in him by others. For these reasons, I shall 
present only what the "great teacher" himself says about 
it. 

In the first place, he says that a project may be the 
work of one person or it may be the work of a group of 
persons working together to one end. Let me illustrate: — 



THE PROJECT METHOD 139 

Floyd Trask, one of Miss Bogard's sixth-grade boys, is 
a very ingenious chap. He observed the Rural Free De- 
livery man pass by the schoolhouse daily, traveling in a 
little enclosed one-horse carriage which protected him 
from the cold north wind. This inspired in the boy the 
desire to have such a ''cab," as he called it, in which he 
and his sisters might come their two miles or more to 




THE CAB PLANNED AND BUILT BY ONE SCHOOLBOY 



school. He began to plan for such a "cab." He designed 
it, got his materials and went to work. Now he drives to 
school daily in that "cab" and he and his sisters keep as 
warm as toast. That was an individual project — self- 
initiated, whole-heartedly performed, and carried on amid 
a social surrounding. By "social surroundings" I mean 
other people were interested in what he was doing and 
he was interested in what others thought of what he was 
doing. It was made to satisfy a felt need. The accomplish- 
ment of it was accompanied with satisfaction. 

When we had our spelling match at Warren before 
Christmas, the Marshfield children had to meet the difh- 



140 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



culty of finding a suitable way to get to Warren and back 
home again. Railroad connections were unsatisfactory. 
They thought of one way and then another. Finally, they 
settled upon the plan of getting a large wagon, putting on 
it a hay crate, and covering it with a tarpaulin. Into the 
bottom and along the sides of the crate they put some hay. 
This made for them a suitable mode of conveyance. To 




A SCHOOL WAGON PROVIDED BY THE COMMUNITY 

accomplish this, one family provided the wagon, another 
furnished the crate, another contributed the tarpaulin, 
someone else gave the hay, another provided one of the 
teams of horses necessary and another provided the other 
team. All of the children had had a part in working out 
the plan and in carrying it to its happy conclusion. This 
was a group project — "carried on with whole-hearted 
purposefulness amid social surroundings." 

The difference here is merely a difference of numbers. 
You see, Hilda, a project may be the work of one person 
acting alone, or it may be the work of millions, as it was 
during the war. If we ever succeed in getting a League 
of Nations perfected so that all the people of the entire 



THE PROJECT METHOD 141 

world will be engaged in the same worthy end of trying 
to avoid war, then that would be a world project — carried 
on, we hope, "with whole-hearted purposeful activity amid 
social surroundings." 

Now, having this idea of numbers fixed in mind, let 
us turn next to the types of projects in which these 
people, whether acting alone or in groups, may engage. 
There are four of them w^iich Dr. Kilpatrick describes. 
I shall see if I can think of illustrations of each as I give 
them. 

The first kind of a project is one that deals with creating 
tangible, physical things. Both of the projects presented 
in the above illustrations were of this sort. We could see 
the "cab;" we could see the "prairie schooner." There 
may be other forms besides those which are presented in 
wood. Mr. Moore publishes a little paper which he dis- 
tributes among the children each month. For him that 
paper is a project of this first sort. I told you that my 
children were preparing a Christmas box for Mr. Moore. 
That was a group project for them. It took the form of 
chicken, duck, preserves, chowchow, etc. A few days 
before Christmas we gave a little entertainment at the 
schoolhouse one evening. The people saw us perform. They 
looked at the materials that we had made for their pleasure. 
The whole program was for us a group project. You can 
see, of course, that there were many individual projects 
necessary for the group project to be realized. Each 
child had made several presents for members of his family. 
Each of those little presents constituted an individual 
project for the child. The sum total of all of these little 
projects constituted a group project for the school. 

Successful T.— 10 



142 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The second kind of a project is one which places the 
emphasis upon enjoyment of a quiet, intellectual, spiritual, 
aesthetic nature. During the week before Christmas, the 
children and I decided that we would use our morning 
exercises to enjoy things relating to Christmas. One 
morning it was snowing. The snow was falling gently — 
not blowing as it usually does — and it was "lovely Christ- 
mas weather," the children said. We decided that would 
be a good time to read "A Visit from St. Nicholas." We 
lived every scene of it. 

On another morning, the sun was shining beautifully. 
The atmosphere was calm. There was a quietude and a 
solemn grandeur about the morning that gave one the 
spirit of worshipfulness. We decided that would be a good 
time to study about the Christ child. One of the children 
read from the Bible the story of the wise men who watched 
by night and who saw the star of Bethlehem. You recall 
how they went and paid homage and gave their gifts to 
the little Savior as he was cared for in the manger. After 
the story had been read, we then studied that picture — 
"Jesus is Worshipped by the Three Wise Men." We 
then took our graphophone and put on the record of 
"O Little Town of Bethlehem." We, ourselves, felt 
that we had been to see the little Master. It was such 
an impressive little religious service. We had enjoyed 
the story— told so simply and directly. We had found 
pleasure in the picture. We discovered a sweetness 
and a meaning in the song that we had never found 
before. These, Hilda, are illustrations of a group pro- 
ject of the second sort — where appreciation is the end 
desired. 



THE PROJECT METHOD 143 

The way I happened to think of suggesting this series 
of morning exercises came about this way. After Hsten- 
ing to Mr. Ransom's talk on Picture Study, about which I 
wrote you sometime ago, I decided to do some study of 
my own. One night as I looked over some pictures that I 
had secured, I came upon this one that I have just men- 
tioned. I found myself enthralled by it. I had seen it 
many times before but it had never made such an appeal. 
My personal study of it for my pleasure is an illustration 
of a project of the second sort that was carried on by 
one individual. 

The third kind of project is an intellectual tangle, a 
cross-roads difficulty, a situation where you say to your- 
self — "Is this the way or is that the way?" Every in- 
telligent, independent citizen has this type of a project 
before him every time he comes to vote. He must weigh 
values and measure men. He must determine his goals, 
judge his materials, and draw his conclusions. The nation, 
taken as a whole, has such a project to work out when it 
selects a president and a Congress. 

This kind of project may be thought of as an intellectual 
problem. You can see then, Hilda, that this kind of pro- 
ject might be a very small one that would occupy a very 
little space of time such as solving a problem in arithmetic, 
an equation in algebra, or an original in geometry. It 
might be to pick out the verbs in a certain passage, or 
decide what was the correct form of a written letter of 
the alphabet, or to select the best of a series of twenty 
compositions. It might also be something so large as 
setting up a new form of goverrmient, as Russia is now 
undertaking to do. 



144 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

The fourth kind of project has to do with the acquisition 
of skills, the formation of habits. 

Roy Werth has had a great deal of difficulty with his 
penmanship. The last time Mr. Moore visited us he chal- 
lenged Roy to a contest to see who could improve more in 
penmanship during the year — he or Roy. Roy is now 
working to the limit of his capacity. He has the penman- 
ship scale on the wall of the schoolroom close beside him. 
Every day after, a period of practice, he takes his best 
sample to the scale and sees if it is any better than the 
sample with which he is comparing it. The acquisition of 
skill in penmanship is his individual project. 

We have a very fine illustration of a group project of 
this type in our American boys who were training to go to 
the World War. There were four million of them who 
were drilling every day to get in shape for the conflict. 
Certain skills had to be acquired, certain habits had to 
be formed. Each soldier had, as his individual project, to 
bring himself up to the standard. They, all together, had 
a group project to make of the army a trained body of 
men that could be relied upon to respond to certain stand- 
ardized situations by certain standardized responses. 

This, Hilda, is the gist, as I see it, of the new philosophy 
that is animating education, and of the Project Method 
of Teaching which is proposed as a way of transforming 
the philosophy into classroom practice and custom. 

I think you will agree with me that neither of these is 
entirely new. They are old ideas presented in a new light, 
with different clothes. Human nature is very nearly the 
same as it was when man was a naked creature in the 
jungle. But as man has developed institutions, he has 



THE PROJECT METHOD 145 

redirected his original nature somewhat to suit the in- 
stitutions which he has found wise. In the early days, 
government was an autocracy of brute force. Now, we 
are all thinking in terms of democracy, equality of oppor- 
tunity. Even after we were organized as governments, 
we controlled people with forces outside of themselves. 
If we are to have a real democracy, though, we must have 
people control themselves chiefly by the forces within 
themselves. 

I spoke just now of our nation's training four million 
soldiers to light the battles of civilization. With a real 
democracy, our nation must train not four million sol- 
diers, but it must train every individual in the nation. 
All of the individuals in all of the nations must be soldiers 
if we are to have a true world democracy. They will not 
be soldiers who are trained to respond to certain standard- 
ized military situations with guns and other agencies of 
death, but soldiers who are educated to respond to social 
situations with noble purposes, practical ideas, and gen- 
erous democratic deeds. 

If we are going to have such a citizen soldiery throughout 
the world, we cannot wait until the crash comes to train 
our soldiers. We must begin generations in advance to 
educate them. The desirable social responses must be 
habituated. This cannot be done without long practice. 
The time to create and habituate those desirable social, 
democratic responses is when the children are young and 
plastic. If the Project Method will help us, then, let's 
use it for all it is worth. 

I do not take it that the "great philosopher," the "great 
teacher" or the "Lesser Lights" would have us change 



146 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

all of our classroom procedure in a day. Educational 
chaos might result I take it that they would have us 
think over the desirable goals in education, use so much 
of the children's initiative as is wise, develop in them judg- 
ment, cooperation, self-reliance, and the spirit of fair 
play; make use of the situations that arise daily in our 
schoolrooms and our communities to develop the catholic 
spirit of tolerance, helpfulness and enthusiastic effort; 
invest every native resource to the limit of its wise ex- 
penditure. 

If this is the aim, then, I would like to be one of the 
*'tiny little satellites" of the philosophy of "Democracy 
and Education" and the pedagogy of the Project Method. 

In Democratic mood and Project Method humor, I am 

Your 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Martha speaks of a new method, "The Project Method" and 
the new philosophy upon which it is based. What is a method, 
pedagogically speaking? What is a philosophy? Educational 
philosophy? 

2. She seems to think that what Kilpatrick and Dewey say is 
particularly abstract and difficult. Would not a recipe for making 
a cake seem difficult and abstract to someone who had never seen 
the materials with which the recipe dealt? What makes an idea 
abstract and difficult to us? How was it, that after a number of 
readings, the sense of what Martha read began to dawn upon her? 
Does intellectual darkness, like the darkness of night, disappear 
gradually? 

3. I wonder what that "creed" can be? Why did Dewey call 
it a creed? I wonder if teachers could take that as the guide of 



THE PROJECT METHOD 147 

pedagogical conduct as church members sometimes take their 
church creeds as a guide to their spiritual conduct? What is 
necessary for one to do in order that his creed may be worth 
anything? 

4. Martha is disposed to joke us teachers about the kind of 
books we read. What kind of books should teachers read? What 
are the advantages of short books? Of long books? Of light books? 
Of abstract books? 

5. What are the objections to marking books? What are the 
arguments in favor of marking them? 

6. I judge from Martha's summary of Dewey's book, "Democ- 
racy and Education" that she has read it a number of times. 
Was that a good way to read a book which requires serious thought? 
It seems that Dewey thinks that our schools are rather autocratic. 
Is it true that we are educated, changed, only by means of expe- 
rience? What is necessary to constitute an experience? How could 
the schools be changed to give more educative experiences? Could 
the school approximate life stituations so that a child might act 
in school just as he would in life and yet not destroy the efi&ciency 
of the school? Which would have to change most — the school or 
the public — in order to make such a school possible? Would the 
teachers need to be less efficient to make such a school pos- 
sible? What would be the character of the discipline in such a 
school? 

7. "A whole-hearted purposeful activity carried on amid social 
surroundings," then, is what is meant by "The Project Method." 
It may be carried on by one or by one million or by all of the people 
of the earth if they will consciously cooperate for the accomplish- 
ment of one and the same purpose. What are the types of projects? 
How many are there, according to Kilpatrick? Might some pro- 
ject partake of the nature of one or more of them, according to the 
aspect which one might be considering? 

8. What is the definite contribution which the project idea 
makes to our pedagogical thought and procedure? What are the 
steps or stages through which the project passes? Might there be 
any other stages not mentioned here? 



148 successful teaching in rural schools 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Democracy and Education — Dewey. 

The Elementary School Curriculum — Bonser. Chapters VT, VII. 

Our Public Schools — Corson. Chapter V. 

Dangers and Difficulties of the Project Method and How to 
Overcome Them — A Symposium — William H. Kilpatrick and 
others. Teachers College Record, September, 192 1. 

The Project Method — William Heard Kilpatrick. Teachers Col- 
lege Bulletin, October 12, 1918. 



CHAPTER XIII 

MARTHA MAKES DISCOVERIES ABOUT IMPROVEMENTS IN 
ARITHMETIC 

January 22 
Dear Hilda: 

As a child I used to think that arithmetic was the dullest, 
hardest, most meaningless subject in the school. There 
was never anything to do but just grind and grind. During 
the past month I have learned that there are ways to make 
children love what I hated. To my childish mind there was 
sense only in problems which dealt with things— hogs, 
sheep, cattle, at so much per head, cloth at so much per 
yard, dresses with so many yards per dress, etc. In other 
words, I had a mind for concrete things. I never cared for 
abstract, nameless numbers whether it be one or a million. 
While I think there was something sensible and fortunate 
in my attitude, still it was unfortunate also, for one needs 
to have a mastery of nameless numbers before he can be 
very successful with numbers in appHcation to concrete 
facts. I always had difficulty with my addition and sub- 
traction combinations and with my multiplication and 
division tables. I could always use reason, but reason 
is a slow and expensive process when it is applied to 
things which we should know instantly. Much of our 
work with numbers needs to be unreasoned, mechanical, 
instantaneous. We need to do it as we write — without 
thinking. 

149 



150 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

I do not think at all of the form of these letters or how 
I make them as I write to you. I merely think of the 
thoughts that I want to express to you and my hand does 
the rest. So, in matters mathematical, our brain should be 
set free as much as possible, to do the things that demand 
thought. In order to do this, the simple processes of ad- 
dition, subtraction, multiplication, and division must be 
mastered so thoroughly that one does not have to think of 
them, when they are used, any more than I have to think 
of the form of these letters of the alphabet as I write 
them. The mind must deal with them just as a machine 
would. It must act automatically. For the mind to get 
where it will deal with these numbers in that way, much 
practice, drill, and repetition is necessary. 

When I was a child, the greater part of attention to these 
so-called fundamental processes was given to the multipli- 
cation tables. These we learned in logical order, just as they 
came. We sang them sometimes but we usually said them 
in a sing-song fashion. We learned them as we used to 
learn the alphabet — we could say the letters but we did not 
know them. So we could say the tables but we did not know 
them when taken out of their regular order. We used to 
think that repetition meant practice; we were told that 
"practice makes perfect." We have now learned that 
mere repetition is not practice, in the best sense of that 
word, but that real practice means attention to a thing 
while we repeat it. It is this sort of practice that makes 
perfect. Any other sort of repetition "makes imperfect." 
You can see, then, that the big problem for the teacher, 
when teaching anything where habit formation is desired, 
is to so plan for the repetition of the thing or process to be 



IMPROVEMENTS IN ARITHMETIC 15I 

learned that the child will always have to give close atten- 
tion until the desired habit is firmly fixed. 

In my work this month I have been trying to increase 
the speed and accuracy with which my children add, sub- 
tract, multiply, and divide. According to the Standard 
Tests which Mr. Moore gave last September my sixth grade, 
on the average, did the following number of problems in each 
of these processes: Additions 17, subtractions 16, multi- 
plications II, divisions 14, fractions 2. They should have 
been able to do 42, 29, 29, 37, 13, respectively. 

You can see from these figures that they were not going 
half as rapidly as they should have gone. My task then has 
been to increase their speed, but in this, as in silent reading, 
speed is no good without accuracy. My problem, then, has 
been to get them to work rapidly and at the same time to 
think of what they were doing. To accomplish this, I have 
used every device of which I could learn that seemed sane. 
I have read three books on the teaching of arithmetic. I 
have ransacked the files of my educational magazines to 
secure devices. I have made a number of devices of my 
own. Some of the things that I have done in order to stim- 
ulate the speed of the children in the fundamental proc- 
esses are as follows : 

I . I have a large number chart which has full pages of 
simple combinations: some pages devoted exclusively to 
addition, some to subtraction, some to multiplication, some 
to division, and some to various combinations of two or 
more of the operations. I have used this chart a great deal. 
We have had races among the children, and between them 
and myself, to see who could do a certain number of them 
in the briefest time and with the fewest errors. Their 



152 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

joy was unconfined when they were able to surpass me. 
My aim was to stimulate every child so that he would be 
my very close rival. 

2. I have had certain standardized practice tests upon 
which the children have practiced, and have kept a record 
of their work. Each child has had a piece of cross-section 
paper on which he has kept his record and has from day 
to day made his practice curve. This device has been one 
of the most stimulating, for each child has been racing with 
himself and trying to surpass his own record. To see his 
practice curve rise from day to day has been his greatest 
delight. 

3. From time to time, I have made a little imitation 
Woody-McCall number test. It contains problems of all 
four operations and of increasing difficulty in each opera- 
tion. I have had the children take the pasteboard card on 
which I had this written and see how long it took them to 
give the answers to the examples. This has revealed to me 
and to them just where their difficulties lay. When they 
were discovered, we then went to work to correct the 
defects. 

4. Besides these more carefully organized and purpose- 
ful devices, we have used a large number of games that we 
found in some of the books dealing with number games. 
Some of them were: "Around the Circle"— "Backgam- 
mon" — "Buzz" — "A Number of Blackboard Relays" — 
"Cross Questions"— "Climb the Ladder"— " Nimble 
Squirrel" — "Ring Toss"— "Roll the Hoop," and many 
others. 

The results have been little short of astonishing to me. 
When Mr. Moore was at my school to-day, he gave a practice 



IMPROVEMENTS IN ARITHMETIC 1 53 

test in the same processes that were tested last September, 
and the sixth grade had the following average : Additions 
T,T„ subtractions 22, multiplications 28, divisions 24, frac- 
tions 10. 

You see from this that a marvelous change has been made 
since September, and the greater part of that change has 
been made in the past four weeks. Conscious attention on 
the part of both the children and myself to the thing to be 
done, with an effort to improve the rate, wrought the 
change. 

One of the biggest factors in the improvement which the 
children have made is the fact that they knew what their rate 
was and also knew what it should be. After the children found 
out yesterday how they now stand, they snapped their 
eyes, pounded one fist in the palm of the other hand, 
stamped their feet and said: "We can do it. Sure we can 
do it! When you come next time, Mr. Moore, we'll be 
standard." 

You should see those children work on this. They would 
rather have an arithmetic race than a foot race. They 
want to take the morning exercise period, the recesses, noon, 
and after school to practice on arithmetic. Could you 
imagine us, when we were children, preferring to do 
arithmetic to playing out-door games? The only difference 
between our situation and theirs is merely a matter of 
suggestion. 

Now that I see how to use a Standard Arithmetic Test to 
a good purpose, I am going one step farther. I am going to 
get the Stone Reasoning Test and test the children in 
reasoning. One needs to know how to add, subtract, mul- 
tiply, and divide, automatically, as I have already said; 



154 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

but the reason he wants this abihty is that he may be able 
to free his mind for more important work. That more im- 
portant work in arithmetic is — reasoning, thinking. Now 
that the children have seen what they could do by effort 
in the matter of improving their ability in the fundamental 
operations, I am certain that they will take to the reasoning 
in the same way. 

To me the beauty about the reasoning work is that it is 
applied to real situations — the very things with which I 
am most familiar and with which I have always been most 
successful. 

Now, please don't misunderstand me. When I say rea- 
soning, I do not mean reasoning about some arithmetical 
improbability which can be found only within the pages of a 
textbook. I shall not waste my time and that of the children 
trying to solve: 

(i) "Hare and hound," or "watch" problems; 

(2) Problems whose answers must have been known before the 
problems could have been made; 

(3) Problems for which no child in the class will probably ever 
have need and if he does he will learn them as a part of the training 
for this trade; 

(4) Problems which have, for their only purpose, mental gym- 
nastics. 

I shall, instead, devote my attention to giving the 
children acquaintance and practice with the practical 
things around them. We shall solve the kinds of problems 
that their parents have to solve, the kind of problems which 
they themselves will have to solve. Many of these problems 
will be found in textbooks but some of them will be found 
in the community. The children, their parents, and I will 
discover them. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN ARITHMETIC 1 55 

These children have now been exposed to some worthy- 
goals. They have been shown what they could do, what 
they should do, and have been challenged in an appropriate 
way to do it. I tell you that everyone likes to work if he 
feels that by his work he is going to get somewhere. It 
is a part of our personal vanity and instinct for mastery. 
There are plenty of big problems in the world and plenty 
of heroic people to tackle them and solve them. Our trouble 
is that we are lacking in "humanity and problem manip- 
ulators." We must have more people who have the ability 
to move the right person around in front of the right prob- 
lem and then dare him to solve it. That is the job for the 
teachers, Hilda. That is your job and mine, and the job of 
every other person whom the state has licensed to go out 
and brood over a little flock of humanity. We must do 
more ''brewing" of humanity and less brooding over 
humanity and over our troubles with humanity. 

Uncle Sam is doing much now in the way of supervising. 
He is supervising farming and cooking. Through the 
health work, he is even supervising our bathing and our 
breathing and all sorts of other things, but I am sure that 
Uncle Sam is wise enough to know that it is not what his 
supervisors themselves do, but what they get all of the 
people to do, that really counts. They must "brew" the 
idea and get it to working in humanity. 

If we just had good standardized measures of all of our 
achievements as those children had for their work in arith- 
metic, wouldn't it be a great service? So much of our con- 
duct and our effort are measurable only by opinion. That 
is better than no measure at all, but it is too variable. 
It is afifected too much by circumstances, tradition, and 



156 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

geography. Well, let us not worry over what we do not 
have but rather let us use to the limit the agencies for im- 
provement that we do have. They are numerous and good. 
May we make the most of them and improve our speed and 
accuracy in all of the virtues with which we have been 
endowed. 
In scientific and philosophic mood, I am, 

As ever, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Martha seems to be quarreling with herself because of her 
inability to use nameless or abstract numbers. At what point in 
her education must the teaching have been most defective? When 
should the number work be concrete? When nameless or abstract? 
What different mind activities are needed for the application or 
manipulation of the two types of number work? To what extent 
should ability in numbers be automatic? Why does some practice 
"make perfect" and other practice "make imperfect?" 

2. I wonder if improvement in skill in one of these fundamental 
mathematical processes may be taken as a "Project" in the same 
sense that Kilpatrick uses that word? If so, to which class of pro- 
jects would it belong? Could not one individual child, one school, 
or the entire helping-teacher district have that for a project? If 
this is true, then a "Project" is not after all such a difficult or 
revolutionary thing in our school work. 

3. The children in Martha's school knew where they were and 
where they should have been in the fundamental processes of 
arithmetic. To what extent did each help? If one of these had to be 
unknown, which should it be? Why? What is the place of stand- 
ardized tests in this situation? Without standardized tests, what 
motives must be most used to stimulate growth in the children? 
With them what motives may be used that could not be made use 
of so well without them? Martha refers to the Stone Reasoning 
Test. How does it differ from the Cleveland Survey Test? 



IMPROVEMENTS IN ARITHMETIC 1 57 

4. Martha seems to have had quite a good deal of play in con- 
nection with her work in arithmetic. To what extent is play- 
justifiable? When does it become unwise? Should the teacher al- 
ways direct the game? Where may I find a description of those 
games which she mentions? 

5. What does Martha mean by "humanity and problem manip- 
ulators?" Would such a person differ from a "humanity manip- 
ulator?" "A problem manipulator?" Can teachers with their 
present limited experience and training serve effectively in the 
capacity of "humanity and problem manipulators?" What training 
would better equip them to do this service? Should a teacher try 
to render this service to any except her own pupils? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Measuring the Results of Teaching — Monroe. Chapters V, VI, IX. 
Number Games and Rhymes — Teachers College Record, November, 

1912. 
Teaching through the Use of Projects — Teachers College Record, 

March, 1920. 
The Science and the Art of Teaching — LaRue. Chapter XIX. 



Successful T.— II 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY FROM THE ANGLE OF 
THEIR OWN HOMES 

January 29 
Dear Hilda: 

My heart sank within me when the club president read 
my name as one of those who was to make a special study 
of geography and report upon it to the club. 

Miss Bogard, Miss St. John and I constituted the 
committee. Geographical location of the teachers in the 
zone was the dominant element in the selection of all these 
committees. The president wisely took it for granted that 
we were all ignorant about everything and could therefore 
work on one committee just as well as on another, and could 
profit from the study by so doing. Those of us who were 
on this committee were all located on the same township 
line, with only seven miles separating Miss Bogard and 
me and with Miss St. John between us. You can see, 
Hilda, even in this simple illustration that geographical 
location is one of the first factors that determines who our 
neighbors are and should be. 

This fact — our location — suggested to us the point of 
view that has guided us in our study. At our first com- 
mittee meeting, we decided that we should try to study all 
of our geography in terms of its relation to us right here in 
Gem County. Of course, we have sometimes gone far 
afield, but in the main we have started with what we have, 

158 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 1 59 

what we know, what we need, what we can supply, what 
we are Hke, etc., and have from this studied what others 
have, know, need, can supply and are like. 

It so happens that I have in my school more young 
children than I have older ones. Miss Bogard has children 
who are in the fifth and sixth grades, chiefly. Miss St. 
John has a number of children in the seventh and eighth 
grades. 

For these reasons, it was agreed that I should devote my- 
self chiefly to the lower-grade work. Miss Bogard to the 
middle grades, and Miss St. John to the upper grades. 

With this agreed upon, I went to work. 

How people live seemed to be the one question that had 
greatest charm for the children below the fifth grade. We 
voted that we would find out what we could on that subject. 

We began with the people of Gem County. We found 
out what crops they produce and how it is done; what sort 
of houses they occupy, how they are heated. We found 
out what our people here have to buy. For our industrial 
work period we constructed from wood, cardboard, dirt, 
grass, and such other things as we needed and could get, an 
imitation Gem County farm and farmstead. It was 
illuminating to see what the children did put into that Httle 
imitation farm. We did this as a beginning project in 
geography. When we were through with it, we were then 
ready to ask how other people live. 

We started by finding out what things we have to buy 
from other people in our own country. We found that 
we have to buy chiefly cotton, sugar, fish, fruits, coal, steel, 
and iron, most of which comes to us in the form of manu- 
factured products. 



l6o SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

We decided that it would take us too long to study all of 
these so it was agreed after some discussion that we would 
study a sugar plantation, a fishing community, a mining 
community, and a manufacturing community, to see how 
the people there live — what things they produce — what 
things they have to buy — in what sort of houses they live, 
and how their life differs from our own. 

We took a Louisiana plantation, a Washington fishing 
community, a Pennsylvania mining community, and a 
Michigan manufacturing community. We studied the 
industrial surroundings as seen from the homes of each 
community. It was the home in which we were primarily 
interested. We studied the industries simply as they were 
related to the home. We indicated our fields, barns, mines, 
factories, boathouses, etc., whatever belonged to the 
community, but the homes we reproduced as accurately as 
possible. 

In order to be able to do this, it was necessary to do much 
reading. We wrote to those communities and got all of the 
information we could get about the life of the people there. 
From the Industrial Departments of the state governments 
we were able to get much interesting material beautifully 
illustrated. We found a number of good books which 
described in a very readable and vivid fashion the facts 
that we wanted to know. Were you to go into our coal shed 
now, you would be able to see displayed on a shelf, especially 
made for the purpose, all of those representative homes and 
modes of making a livelihood of the American people 
that we have studied thus far this year. 

Having studied the lives of our own people, we were then 
ready to find out how people live in other lands. Already 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY l6l 

you have guessed what we did and are now doing. Yes, you 
are right, we are reading, living, reproducing "The Seven 
Little Sisters." With the background that we have, we are 
fairly sizzling with enthusiasm over the work that we are 
now doing. 

For my part of the report of our committee, which made 
its report at the meeting on the 2 2d, I took five of my 
children and the five houses which they had built to 
represent the homes of the people in five different sections 
of America. Each child told what we had done, and ex- 
plained in detail the house for which he was responsible. 
It is needless to say that the children, people, and teachers 
who were present enjoyed their reports far more than they 
would have my own. 

Miss Bogard was the second to report. Miss Bogard is a 
very businesslike, exact sort of a person. She is great at 
getting at the facts and in presenting them in the shortest 
way possible. When the club president called on her, she 
went straight to the mark with no preliminary compli- 
ments, excuses, or other circumlocution commonly known 
as "palaver." 

"There are but a few fundamental geographical facts," 
she said. "These facts must be learned, understood, and 
often applied by the children in the fifth and sixth grades. 
These fundamental facts are: climate, latitude, elevation, 
character of the soil, winds, mountains, distance from nav- 
igable streams and sea coast, and mineral deposits. 

"There are some secondary geographical facts which 
must be learned, understood, and applied. These are: 
the character of the people, the character of the schools, 
churches, and government, their transportation facihties, 



l62 SUCCESSrUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

their location with reference to other people, and the 
character of those neighboring peoples. 

"With these facts learned and their meaning understood, 
it is possible to answer practically any economic or social 
situation now existing, that has existed, or may exist 
hereafter. 

"We learned the application of these facts to our own 
nation first. We started our work by asking : 

"Why is the Middle West the nation's bread basket? 

"When we had answered that question we had discovered 
the effect of heat, latitude, nature of the soil, rainfall, 
elevation, climate. The children became very much 
interested in the scientific facts which this one study re- 
vealed to them. Soon they began to have many "why" 
questions of kindred nature. Some of those that were 
asked and which the class has tried to answer are the fol- 
lowing: 

Why is sugar grown in Louisiana? 

Why is cotton grown in Texas? 

Why are mules raised in Missouri? 

Why are grapefruit and oranges grown in California and Florida? 

Why are apples grown in Oregon and Washington? 

Why is New England a manufacturing section? 

Why is Michigan the automobile center? 

"When we had answered those questions, we had learned 
to apply not only those principles that I termed funda- 
mental geographic influences, but we had learned to apply 
most of the secondary influences also. 

"We had found that Missouri raises mules because of its 
corn and pasture lands and its nearness to the southern 
cotton fields which will make use of the mules. We had 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 163 

learned that New England is a manufacturing section be- 
cause of its nearness to markets and its inability to compete 
with the farming of the rest of the country. We had found 
that Michigan is the automobile center because of its 
nearness to the coal, iron and the leather needed in their 
manufacture and because of its access to markets, both do- 
mestic and foreign. 

"And so, with these few facts we can test the WHY of 
practically all of the existing situations — social and in- 
dustrial — which we now have in this nation or throughout 
the world. 

"We have devoted the first half of the year to getting 
these facts clearly in mind with reference to our own nation. 
We are just now ready to begin the study of the rest of the 
world. We are anxious to apply our knowledge to a few 
situations that exist in the world, such as: 

Why has Japan become such a conspicuous world power during 
the past generation? 

Why have China and Russia failed to develop so rapidly as has 
Japan within the past two decades? 

Why has England been such a large power in the affairs of the 
world? 

Why was Germany able to defy the world for so long a time 
during the World War? 

"There is a score of other questions of kindred nature for 
which we desire to find answers. You can see, friends, that 
while we are answering these very live questions, we shall 
be getting a great amount of facts. These facts are or- 
dinarily very dry facts that are partially remembered for 
one recitation and then forgotten, because they are learned 
merely as facts. When, though, they are learned in con- 
nection with one of these questions, they are never forgotten 



l64 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

because they have meaning to the individual who learns 
them. We try to keep before us all of the time some con- 
crete problem for solution that is of interest to the group. 
I stimulate and guide the children in the choice of their 
problem, but I always try to develop our problems out of 
their own questions. 

"We solve, in an inductive way, a few questions. Then 
we compare the facts in the cases thus studied and get the 
principles common to all. We then apply these principles, 
deductively, to a large number of other cases until the 
principles are firmly fixed. 

"I would not have you think that this is so easy as it 
may sound. There are difficulties but they are such that 
it is fun to overcome them. The chief difficulties, as I 
have found them, are of the following kinds: 

"One: To get the children to do independent thinking about 
real problems. They have been accustomed to study a certain 
number of pages in a book for a lesson. If they could commit to 
memory the facts therein presented and repeat the statements 
at class, they felt that they had done well. That is not the kind 
of work that I have been doing. I have been teaching them to 
collect data and remember facts but to do so with a purpose, that 
purpose being to answer some question, to solve some problem. It 
was difficult at first but it is easy now. 

"Two: To make the children sufficiently familiar with the funda- 
mental and secondary geographical fads to which I have referred. 
The children must come to know those facts so that they can handle 
them almost as automatically as they do the fundamental opera- 
tions in arithmetic on which we have been working. Confronted 
with any geographical situation, those facts with which to inter- 
pret the situation should instantly come to their minds. 

"Three: The third difficulty to which I want to call your attention 
is the difficulty oj getting children to make use of reference material. 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 165 

If we are to study problems, then the children must be familiar 
with sources of information such as other textbooks, yearbooks, 
enclycopedia, maps, charts, agricultural and census reports, 
magazines, newspapers, and the like. Tables of contents and indices 
to books must come to have a real fascination for them. 

"Four: The fourth and most important difficulty that I have had 
to overcome is that of finding suitable problems for solution. I find 
that if I select the problems and assign them to the children, 
they do not always take root. The children do not feel that the 
problems are their own. In order for them to be able to select 
fruitful problems, some information and a good deal of interest or 
even curiosity is needed. It is my task to do the steering so that 
they will bump into some good problems. I do much of this by 
means of the daily paper which we use on certain days for our morn- 
ing exercise work. After we bump into one of these problems, we 
take it as a tentative one until we can investigate it sufficiently to 
decide whether or not we desire to go further with it. Whenever one 
of the questions arises about which we would like to know more, we 
put it down on our "waiting list." We now have quite a long list 
of questions that are clamoring for answers. 

"These are the four difficulties that we have met. We 
are hoping soon to be able to quote that famous state- 
ment: 'We have met the enemy, and they are ours.' 
While we are in the struggle, we are having fun — plenty of 
it." 

When she was through, we flooded her with questions, all 
of which she answered in the same short, businesslike manner 
which had characterized her talk. Miss Bogard was con- 
vinced that this was THE WAY to teach geography be- 
cause she said "It is the only way that really has sense to 
it, and besides, there's more real pleasure in it when done in 
this way." 

Her discussion was especially interesting to me because 
her way of teaching geography is an application of one of the 



l66 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS * 

Project Methods that I discussed in my letter of January 
15th. You see all of her work was done to answer an 
intellectual problem — which Kilpatrick calls a ''Problem 
Project." 

Miss St. John, when the time came for her report, said 
that Edwin Glau would speak for her school. Edwin is an 
eighth-grade boy, bright, confident and with an unusual 
power to express his thoughts. Edwin said: "During the 
year we are taking for our work in geography, the task of 
answering two questions. They are: 

What nations of the world are self-sustaining and why? 
What nations are not self-sustaining and why? 

"From the study of these questions, we expect to get a 
summarized estimate of the resources, the industries, and 
the people of all of the nations of the world. We are doing 
this to give us a good economic and social background with 
which to enter high school next year. 

"I shall not take your time, though, to talk about the 
geography of the world. From what Miss Proul and her 
children and Miss Bogard have said, I think the other 
schools of the zone must be studying geography and getting 
fun out of it just as we are. 

"The geography that I want to present for our school's 
part in this discussion is the geography of the southwestern 
corner of Gem County. The reason we have decided to 
discuss this subject is the relation that it bears to our schools. 
You may think that what I say belongs to civics instead of 
geography. Maybe it does. In our school we do not worry 
much about the subject under which a thing belongs if we 
are interested in it. We do it in whatever period it is con- 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 167 

venient and call it by the name of the subject written on 
the program for that period. The subject that I am going 
to talk to you about arose and has been discussed in our 
geography period. You may call it whatever you please. 

" I am in the eighth grade. This year ends my work in the 
country school. Next year I want to go to high school. 
There are four others from our school who want to do the 
same thing. That means that we shall have to go to 
Amberville and board. It means that we shall have to leave 
home. It may mean that some of our families will move out 
of the country and move into town to live, at least for the 
winter. 

"That is what has happened already to a great many 
folks down here. There are more empty houses in this end 
of the county during the winter time than there are houses 
with people in them. This is true because the folks have 
gone to town to send their children to high school. Some 
more of our folks will have to go if we cannot get a high 
school out here in the country so we can stay at home and 
go to school. 

"Not only that, but I have something else to say before 
I present my geography. As our schools now are, we have 
a pretty hard time getting much education. We cannot al- 
ways get a good teacher and we have a hard time keeping 
her after we do get one. We have a good one this year but 
we are all afraid she will leave us next year. Mr. Moore 
was telling us just the other night that of the fifteen 
teachers in the zone, there were only two who taught the 
same school last year that they are teaching this year. 

"Furthermore, so long as our schools are as small as they 
now are, we shall have little old shacks of houses which are 



1 68 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



not fit to be schoolhouses. Just look at our school. It is 
the same house that my grandfather built when he landed 




THE ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE 



here fifty years ago. Just compare it with any residence 
in the district and you will see how much our schoolhouses 




AN ATTRACTIVE RESIDENCE IN THE DISTRICT 



are behind our residences. I think if either should be 
behind, it should be the residence. Fewer children would be 
affected by it. 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 1 69 

"More than that, with our schools situated as they are, 
too much of the helping-teacher's time is spent on the road 
going from school to school. Mr. Moore spends more time 
by far on the road than he does in the schools. This is a 
waste of time. It is the time that he spends in the schools 
that counts. 

" I see that you all know already what I am going to say, 
and you are right; the geography class of the school which 
I have the honor to attend, known as GEM No. 4, is for 
consolidation of schools. We do not want it for just our 
school, but we believe that we should have it for all schools. 
It is not fair to the children, the teachers or the taxpayers 
to have these little one-room schools. The teachers are 
worked to death by the amount that they have to do and 
they leave just as soon as they can. I don't blame them. 
The children cannot get the inspiration and help that 
they need. There cannot be much social life in so small a 
school. There cannot be any sort of clubs for the boys and 
girls for there are too few to have a club. With these little 
schools, I cannot see that there can be anything but more of 
the same kind of thing that we have had, unless it be 
something worse." 

It was amusing and inspiring to hear that youngster talk. 
It was no speech that he had memorized. It was something 
that was in his heart and he had the facts in his mind. 

"Now, I have a map here," he continued. "This map 
shows how the schools of our Demonstration Helping- 
Teacher Zone and those that are located right near it 
could be consolidated into four schools instead of twenty 
as they now are. 



170 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



"You are all more or less familiar with these little old 
buildings that we have. Here are four of them. Anyone 
who lives in this end of Gem County, knows our wealth, 
sees our fine houses, barns, and so forth, must feel 
ashamed to realize that these are our schoolhouses. 

"If we could displace these poor buildings with one like 
one of these consolidated schools, the picture of which I 




A CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 



have here, what do you think would be the effect on our 
community? It would not only mean better schools, but 
it would mean better roads, better churches (we now 
have practically none). It would mean that we could get 
some of our pleasure out here where we live instead of 
having to go into town for all of it. We could have our 
music, our athletics, our moving pictures, and social clubs 
of all sorts right here. I have nothing against the town. It 
has its place. But I am for the country; I think it has its 
place also. It has a mighty poor chance now to get any 
respect when it does not have anything to commend it 
except long hours of hard work and loneliness. 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 171 

"There is but one real argument against consolidation of 
schools. That is the argument of expense. I haven't found 
anybody who will not admit that it will help to get good 
roads, to provide good churches, and better social life. Some 
say that it would make it more expensive. I might grant 
that for the sake of argument and yet say that no country 
community can afford to be without it. But the fact is 
that here in Gem County that is not anything like true. 

"It is true that the direct tax which the people would 
pay might be higher but it is not true that the real tax 
would be higher. To prove this statement, our class has 
been making some investigation. We have found out how 
many pupils there are attending high school in town who 
should be in high schools down here in the country within 
the limits of our zone. There are exactly thirty this year, 
right now. 

" I asked Mr. Worthy the other day how much it cost him 
to send his two boys to high school. He said that it would 
cost $500.00 each for the year. I want you to multiply 
$500.00 by 30 and see what you get. That alone amounts 
to fifteen thousand dollars. That is a tax, ladies and gentle- 
men, just the same as if the sheriff collected it from them. 

"Now, to bring my talk to a close, I say that if we will 
add fifteen thousand dollars a year to what we are already 
spending and invest it in our schools, we can have the 
best schools in the land. Our geography class is for doing it 
next year and we want your help to get the rest of the folks 
to see that this is a wise thing to do." 

That is what I call real geography work, Hilda. When 
the study of geography leads to some real social or economic 
response in the life of the people, then geography ceases to 



172 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

be merely a school subject and becomes a real factor of 
society. Why can we not teach all of our subjects in the 
schools so that they begin to function at once in the life of 
the people? I believe we could, if we would just use enough 
thought in studying our community's needs and at the same 
time the materials that we are presenting to our children. 
I am going to try harder and harder to do just that. 

Since our study of geography, Hilda, you seem so much 
nearer to me than you ever did before. You see these 
Middle West states are as much alike as are peas in a pod. 
Not only do you seem nearer to me, but the people in all 
the world seem nearer to me, physically, and dearer to me, 
socially. Don't you think that is the natural consequence of 
knowing more of the other fellow's problems? I do. I 
think that is the reason I like you so well, Hilda. I know so 
much about you. I did not like people of Swedish descent 
until I came to know you. They seemed queer to me. I 
have found it so with every other nationality about which 
I knew but little. But when I knew them better, I liked 
them more. So, geography, you see, is not so much a 
matter of study of the physical features of lands as it is of 
the social life of peoples. If I knew all the nationalities of 
earth as I now know the Swede as a result of my acquaint- 
ance with you, then, I would consider myself very learned in 
geography. But if I knew every physical feature of the 
earth's surface and remained in ignorance of its people, 
my information would be worthless in so far as my insight 
into society is concerned. 

In globe-trotting and fraternizing mood, I am 

Yours, 

Martha 



THE CHILDREN STUDY GEOGRAPHY 1 73 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. The plan upon which those teachers are working is quite op- 
posed to the plan by which I was taught and which I have always 
used. They seem to pay but little attention to places. How do they 
justify this neglect of places in a study of geography? 

2. What are the advantages of studying geography from this 
viewpoint? Will there not be many facts in geography which 
cannot be covered in this way? 

3. Martha says that her children made representative homes of 
the people in all of those different localities and industries. Was 
there not a good deal of duplication? What, then, was the advan- 
tage of making these homes? 

4. Miss Bogard makes the scientific facts of geography very few 
and very simple. Are they really so few and so simple? Just what 
does she mean by an "inductive study" and by a "deductive 
study?" Why did she not explain further? Does she think everyone 
understands? If she thinks that, she is mistaken, for I do not. I 
wonder where I can find out more fully what she means? 

5. In Miss St. John's school they are studying just two questions 
as a means of reviewing all of the geographical data which eighth- 
grade children will need for final examinations and for preparation 
for high school. Is that sufficient? 

6. Edwin Glau seems to me like a rather remarkable eighth- 
grade country boy. Will consolidated schools solve the problems 
which he presents? What new problems might consolidated schools 
present which the one-teacher schools do not? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 
Teaching the Common Branches. — Charters. 

Country Life and the Country School — Carney. Chapters IV, VII. 
Constructive Rural Sociology — Gillette. Chapters IX, XI. 
The Elementary School Curriculum — Bonser. Chapter X. 
The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee. Chapter 

XII. 
Rural Life and the Rural School — Kennedy. Chapter VI. 

Successful T— 12 



CHAPTER XV 

MARTHA HAS A PENMANSHIP REVIVAL IN HER SCHOOL 

February 14 
My dear Hilda: 

This is the day when all the birds choose their mates. If 
I were a bird, you would certainly be my choice. You are 
so patient, long-suffering and encouraging. I have come 
to feel that everyone should have someone to whom he can 
tell all of the things of interest to him, I am certain that 
my pleasure has always been doubled for me when I told 
them to you. The joy of my school work this year has been 
more than doubled by my letters to you. To put down in a 
letter what I have been enjoying for a month has been like 
a delightful dessert at the close of a good dinner. 

The way in which I write my letters to you reminds me 
of Mr. Worthy as he sits by the fire after supper. He seems 
to be living over all of the delightful experiences of the day. 
He seems to be recalling the flavor of his morning coffee, the 
freshness of the morning air, the beauty of the sunrise, the 
joy with which the dog frisked around him as he came out 
of the house, the pleased greeting extended to him by all 
of the barnyard family. He seems to be rejoicing over the 
fertility of his farm, the friendship of his neighbors, the 
comfortableness of his farm residence, the efficiency of his 
wife, and the alertness of his children. That is the way I 
feel, Hilda, when I begin my letters to you. The things 
which I have done come trooping before me and, like a 

174 



THE PENMANSHIP REVIVAL 175 

small child, they beg me to tell about them. I cannot relate 
all of those experiences. I would not have the time and you 
would not have the patience, I fear, to read to the end. 

I have never told you, I believe, of what we are doing to 
improve the quality of our penmanship. I did refer some- 
time since to Roy Werth's project based upon the improve- 
ment of his penmanship. He has not been an exceptional 
case, I find, in the helping-teacher district. 

Let me tell you the story of this penmanship work in our 
schools. Last October when the Standard Tests were given, 
penmanship was among the subjects tested. Because of the 
fact that Mr. Moore wanted to devote two months to each 
of the other four subjects tested, and because he felt that 
penmanship was a subject that might be emphasized all of 
the time and thereby be improved without a special time 
for its study, no place was made for it on the schedule of the 
supervisor. Soon Mr. Moore noted that the results were not 
appearing in that subject as he had hoped and expected. He 
had made known the penmanship standing of every child 
through the survey just as he had for all other subjects. 
He had placed in each school a copy of the penmanship 
scale. He had suggested that the children do certain things 
by which to judge their work. These things in general 
did not produce the desired results. 

When I returned from my Christmas vacation, I found 
the following letter addressed to me, but written to the 
children : 

January i, 1922 
My dear Boys and Girls: 

Would you like to do something during the year 1922 of which you 
will always be proud? Would you like to do something this year to 



176 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

which you can always refer as your "1922 JOB " and then know that 
it was a job worth while? Surely, you would! 

"Well, what is it?" you say. It is an easy thing to say but a 
hard thing to do. Many of you will start out but some of you will 
play out. Many of you will mean well but some of you will not 
work well. Many of you will begin but some of you will not finish. 

"What is it? What is it?" Well! I'll tell you. It is to form one 
good habit. Form it so well that it will stay with you all of your 
life. The particular habit to which I refer is that of learning to 
write well. 

Writing, boys and girls, is a habit. It is a good habit if the 
writing is legible and rapid. It is a bad habit if the writing is 
illegible and slow. I have a bad writing habit. I want you to form 
a good writing habit. 

I am not satisfied with my writing. I am going to correct my bad 
habit and so I challenge you to a race. To-day I am going to take a 
sample of my penmanship. I am going to take a sample once every 
week until the close of the year. Suppose you do the same. I shall 
improve more during this year than any child in the schools of the 
demonstration district. 

Let me suggest that when I come to your school, you give to me 
the samples of your penmanship written on every second week. 
You keep the other samples. I shall make a file of your work and 
keep it. You do the same. I shall also make a file of my own writing. 
At the end of the session when we have our big spelling match 
down at Marshfield, we shall have a penmanship exhibit and see 
who wins the contest, you or I. Suppose you compare your work 
each week with the scale which you have at your school. 

Are you in the game? Good! All together, now, for a fine race, 
good habit and a big job for 1922 ! Who will work well and be in at 
the finish ? 

Wishing every one of you a happy new year, I am 

In to win, 

William Hoppes Moore 

I wish you might have seen my children when I read that 
letter to them. The spirit of contest was in them in a, 



THE PENMANSHIP REVIVAL 1 77 

minute. Some of them said: " Of course, he can write bet- 
ter than we can. He is a man while we are just children." 
When I reread the part of the letter which said "improve 
more," they were all ready to accept the challenge. 

I told you sometime ago about Roy. He is perhaps the 
most serious and the most businesslike boy in my school, 
but they are all in the game. Formerly they took their 
samples of penmanship to the scale and compared them 
with a general kind of an interest, which seemed to say: 
"Yes, I'll do this because I am supposed to do so, but not 
because of any good that I see that will come from it." It 
is a different story now. They study that scale and their 
own productions, now, as a real artist would study a master- 
piece and compare it with his own production. 

Each week the children take three kinds of samples : 

First: They get samples of their movement work in which 
they are working merely for form. It has been my observa- 
tion that this is about as far as the penmanship work has 
usually carried over in our schools. The teachers learn 
something of how to count the strokes, the children learn 
something of making ovals according to the counts, and 
then we teachers and the children seem to think that we 
have done our duty to penmanship. This phase is neces- 
sary, I think, as a preparation to penmanship, but it is not 
penmanship. I have observed that children can become 
quite expert in making ovals and yet not improve one 
iota in the form of their regular writing. 

Second: The children give themselves a regular three- 
minute test each week just like the test which they took 
last fall. In this way they have an opportunity to observe 
the improvement which they are making in their ability 



178 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

to do one particular exercise. This is a very illuminating 
phase of the work to me. I find that in this piece of work 
they can pick out the details of several samples and com- 
pare them and see wherein they have improved or lost to a 
degree not possible with a promiscuous collection of their 
work. 

Third: The third sample of their work is the one in which 
there is the most novel interest. After we received Mr. 
Moore's letter, we had a meeting of the house as a "com- 
mittee of the whole" to discuss ways and means. We 
analyzed the kinds of work that were necessary to be done in 
order to make the work in penmanship really effective. 
Every child participated in the discussion and decision. 
It was John Newmann who said: "These pretty samples 
that we make at the time of our penmanship lessons are 
all right, but it is what we do when we are off guard that 
really counts. That is the kind of writing that we are going 
to do ordinarily. We will not be good writers until we write 
so well that we write well when we are not thinking about 
it. I move, therefore, that besides these two dressed up 
samples which we have that are made when we are thinking 
about it, we have one other. Let that be one which the 
teacher selects from our written work that we hand in. 
Let her not tell us when she is going to take the sample. In 
that way we will always be on our guard to do our best 
until we do our best all of the time, even when we are not 
thinking about it." 

John's motion carried. As a result, we have the three 
types of samples taken each week. Just a little more than 
one month has passed since we adopted this plan of work 
but the results are already abundantly evident. 



THE PENMANSHIP REVIVAL 1 79 

After the first group of samples had been collected, 
Marie asked if we might not use our penmanship period 
the next day to make some folders in which to keep the 
penmanship samples. Of course, I consented. The idea 
was a contagious one. All became enthusiastic over a 
penmanship folder. Some of them had rather crude ideas 
as to what the folder should be Hke, but all had ideas and 
were encouraged to state them. Each pupil made his own 
design for the back of his folder. Some were good, "very, 
very good" and some were bad, even '4iorrid." 

The interest has grown and ability to write has improved 
to such an extent that their penmanship work has become 
one of the big items in their school pride. We had a Valen- 
tine party at our school yesterday. In spite of the fact that 
penmanship and valentine decorations are not very much in 
keeping, the children insisted that our valentines and our 
penmanship folders with our samples should be on exhibit. 

When they began to plan for exhibiting their work 
Henry Simon said — "Well, if we are going to show our 
writing, I want to make a new folder, for mine is not good 
enough to show." His statement put ideas into the minds 
of the others. All wanted to make new folders. They had 
all advanced beyond their ideals of a month ago. I wish 
you could see the two folders which each child has made. 
No better evidence could be found in our school of the value 
of one month of interesting work in the growth of a child. 
When I saw those folders, I got a new vision of my respons- 
ible opportunity as a teacher. 

These are the factors as I now see them, Hilda, which 
have entered into this work and which must enter into any 
work in which definite improvement is desired : 



l8o SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

First: There must be a motive for the work. Penman- 
ship is a very monotonous kind of work unless it is moti- 
vated by some social situation. Mr. Moore's challenge 
started the children. The collection of samples with the 
consciousness that they were to be used later, in two or 
three ways, has continued it. 

Second: There must be a great deal of repetition with 
attention to the details which require improvement. It is 
the attention that guides the effort. It is the repetition 
which drills in the correct form and makes a habit of it. 

Third: There must be a social situation to keep one 
spurred on to his best. I fear that we do not make enough 
of this phase in our school work The approval of others 
has everything to do with the way in which we appreciate 
ourselves. In no phase of our school work is this more 
important and valuable, I feel, than in penmanship. 

Fourth: There must be a consciousness of some practical 
purpose to which one can put what he learns. That prac- 
tical purpose might be to secure some aesthetic end in which 
money played no part, but to the individual it must be an 
end worthy of his effort. 

I hope you will see the effect of the work in penmanship 
done in our school, even upon the friendly letters written 
by the teacher. In my best penmanship style, 

I subscribe my name, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. Penmanship has certainly been a difficult subject for me to 
teach. The chief trouble has been to get the children interested. 
Some of them would be interested in it just as some children are 



THE PENMANSHIP REVIVAL lOI 

interested in all school subjects. I wonder if the letter from Mr. 
Moore would have interested them. Just what was the particular 
thing that interested them — the saving of the sample, the approach- 
ing exhibits, or the contest with Mr. Moore? 

2. The idea of having the children save three different kinds of 
samples of their work seems to me good. What particular ad- 
vantage was in each sample? 

3. To what other school subjects is penmanship related? How? 

4. Martha says that there are four factors necessary for self- 
improvement in anything. Are the factors she names the most 
important ones? What might be added? 

5. Where may I go to get more information on the subject of 
penmanship? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Eighteenth Year Book — Writing — Gray. Part II. National So- 
ciety for the Scientific Study of Education. 
Psychology for Teachers — La Rue. Chapter IX, 



CHAPTER XVI 

MARTHA REJOICES OVER ORAL READING WORK 

February 21 
Dear Hilda: 

Would that every day of my life might be as this has been 
and that all the work that I see done might be as full of 
meaning and pregnant with hope. In spite of a five-inch 
snow that fell last night on top of an old weather-beaten 
snow that has piled up all winter, in spite of temperature 
which was twenty below throughout the day, practically 
the entire group of teachers was present at the meeting to- 
day. 

At exactly ten o'clock Miss Walker called the meeting 
to order and from then until noon we had a most thrilling 
program. Three teachers taught oral reading lessons. The 
thrilling part to me was to see that excellent oral reading 
can be secured from classes with seemingly so little effort 
on the part of the teacher. 

My teachers used to be constantly saying: ''Louder" 
— ''louder" — "read with more expression" — "read that 
again," and such other expressions as were supposed to be 
directions for securing good or better oral expression. Even 
then we children would hum along in a tone that sounded 
more like the buzz of a bumblebee than like the clear, crisp 
tones of an intelligent and intelligible conversation. Such 
was not the situation in to-day's demonstration. Each 
child read just as he talked. 

182 



MARTHA REJOICES OVER ORAL READING 183 

It was pointed out at our meeting a month ago and amply 
demonstrated to-day that there are two fundamental con- 
ditions for oral reading: One is a real audience, that is, an 
audience that is interested and giving attention to what is 
being said; the other condition is attractive and*interesting 
reading material which interests and delights the reader 
himself. 

How far this is from the situation which prevailed in our 
childhood ! Do you recall how every child was required to 
read his lesson over "at least five times" by way of prep- 
aration, how every child was required to "keep up with the 
place" while the children read by turns, and then how, 
after the reading of each, all other members of the class 
were called upon to state the mistakes that had been ob- 
served. 

In a lesson of that sort no attention was given either to au- 
dience or to material. The two big things which were written 
large on such a recitation were "words" and "mistakes." 
The reader had his eye and mind on mere words — not 
thoughts — and the remainder of the class did not con- 
stitute an audience that the reader was to instruct or please, 
but rather a group of petty faultfinders who had their eyes 
and ears attuned for verbal mistakes only. Even when a 
child did become what was called a "good reader" under 
that plan, I am now constrained to believe that he was a 
good word-pronouncer only, and not a good idea-getter or a 
good thought- transmitter. 

The plan which was used to-day makes words the agency 
by which ideas are "put over." The attention of no one 
was ever placed primarily upon words; the first interest 
was always in ideas. If the teacher failed to get the idea 



184 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

which a reader was supposed to convey or if a member of the 
class failed to understand, the reader was told that he was 
not understood and for that reason would he kindly re- 
peat, or restate, or interpret what he had just read. This 
made the reader conscious that good oral reading was good 
talking and must be just as understandable by his audience 
as anything else that he said which was meant for someone 
else to understand. 

For the teacher to secure good oral reading, then, her 
task becomes one not of "hearing recitations," but one of 
finding appropriate materials, of making wise assignments, 
and of creating real audiences for the appreciation of the 
reader's effort. I have decided that the biggest factor 
in producing excellent oral readers is wise appreciation. 
In this school subject, oral reading, perhaps more than in 
any other, appreciation counts for far more than does crit- 
icism. The longer I live and the more I observe, the more 
I am convinced that appreciation is the great creative 
force in society. The lesson taught by the noble visitor in 
"The Passing of the Third Floor Back," by Jerome K. 
Jerome, was that of wise appreciation. The world is full of 
noble impulses and of creative genius, but it needs more 
people who can see the unexpressed noble impulses and the 
latent creative genius and can inspire both to expression 
and action. 

In order to create a real audience for the reader, some of 
the teachers have done away with the reading classes, as 
such, on certain days. Instead, a general reading period 
for the entire school is held on those days, at which time 
each child in the entire school reads whatever appeals to 
him. On one day, all will read poetry, another day they will 



MARTHA REJOICES OVER ORAL READING 1 85 

read news items, another day they read jokes. In this way, 
a great variety is provided and at the same time it is 
sufficiently restricted to insure a kinship of material. 

This type of oral work stimulates a vast amount of silent 
reading. Each child, in order to find what suits him to 
present as an oral reading, does much reading of material 
before he finds what he thinks sufficiently good to present 
to an audience with a view to entertaining it. It is not the 
small amount that the reader reads aloud which counts 
most toward effective oral reading, but it is rather the large 
amount of discriminative silent reading that he does in 
picking out his selection which really improves his reading. 
For the little children in the first grade only a limited 
amount of this type of work can be done with profit, but 
the benefits increase as the child's ability to read and to 
select reading increases. 

Oral reading, it seems to me, should be thought of as 
language rather than as reading. If this were done, it 
would improve the quaUty and character of both the oral 
reading and the language. We should think of reading, 
chiefly, as getting ideas for one's self, of language as giving 
ideas to others, whether they be one's own ideas or the 
ideas he gets through reading. In general, the purposes of 
oral reading and oral composition are the same, and the 
method of teaching them should be very similar. 

Next month we are to do language again. I believe I 
have not told you that it is Mr. Moore's plan to emphasize 
each of four subjects twice during the session. We have 
devoted one month to each of the following subjects: 
Reading, Language, Spelling and Arithmetic. We are now 
going over them a second time. We are emphasizing a 



l86 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

different phase of each subject the second time from what 
we did the first time. Judging from my second month on 
Reading, the second month on each subject emphasized, is 
going to prove even more interesting and profitable than 
did the first. It takes one month for us to begin to get the 
big significant ideas on the subject. After the ideas lie 
fallow for three months, they spring up to reenforce and 
fertilize the ideas secured the second .time the subject 
is taken up. 

At our meeting to-day, we had Miss Willairs, primary 
specialist from the normal, and Miss Galligan, one of the 
normal school critics, both of whom gave demonstrations 
as suggestions for our work for next month. Three types 
of work were suggested: (i) Memorizing of poems which 
have a patriotic spirit or which relate to health, happiness, 
or character : (2) The telling of stories which relate to things 
heroic: (3) Compositions, both oral and written, which 
relate to health and happiness. 

You see that patriotism and optimism are the general 
themes for the month. I shall write you later as to results. 
I know that you must feel that you are one of the teachers 
in the demonstration group since I never write you about 
anything else. I must tell you about it, though, whether 
you like it or not; else I would surely consume myself 
with my own enthusiasm. 

Devotedly, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. Demonstration lessons seem to be a favorite method with 
those teachers. What advantage is there in three lessons over one, 
as a means of discussion by the teachers? 



MARTHA REJOICES OVER ORAL READING 1 87 

2. Those expressions which Martha says her teachers were ac- 
customed to use are not entirely abandoned even yet. Are they 
really ineffective as means of securing oral expression? Why? 

3. The two essentials for securing expressive oral reading named 
by Martha seem to be rather sound. The problem, then, is how to 
provide them. I must give some thought to them to see how I may 
secure them. 

4. The number of times that a child reads over a lesson seems 
to be of minor importance, according to Martha. What would she 
substitute instead of "number of times?" 

5. Would Martha be willing to be indifferent to "words" and 
"mistakes" of which she speaks with some contempt? Just how 
did the good reader of two generations ago differ from a good 
reader now? 

6. How can a teacher make an assignment and conduct a recita- 
tion in order that the attention may be placed primarily upon ideas 
and in order that correct words and few mistakes will result? 

7. Would it not be difficult to keep sufficient material provided 
for the reading work if the reading classes were conducted according 
to the plan which Martha suggests? Would this be a misfortune? 

8. Martha thinks that oral reading and oral composition are 
very closely related — so closely, in fact, that the two should be 
thought of as one. Is this true? What difference would the ac- 
ceptance of such a view make in our work? 

9. Is it wise to have experts demonstrate for untrained 
teachers? Why not? Why so? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Teaching the Common Branches — Charters. Chapter V. 
Eighteenth Year Book. — Reading — Gray. Part II. National 
Society for the Scientific Study of Education. 



CHAPTER XVII 

TEACHING A POEM 

February 22 
Dear Hilda: 

I am feeling very patriotic to-day. Washington's 
Birthday always brings a thrill to me. I know of no way 
that I can spend the day with more joy to myself and, I 
trust, with more pleasure to you than to tell you of some 
patriotic poems that Miss Galligan taught to the children 
yesterday as a demonstration for our group. I referred to 
it in my letter last night. 

Miss Galligan is a delightful individual. From her name 
I judge that she is not German nor Swedish, Danish, nor 
Dutch. I shall leave you to guess her nationality, but she 
has all of the earmarks of the Emerald Isle — happy, witty, 
dramatic, a good fellow with grown folks and a charmer to 
children. 

When Mr. Moore introduced her, she arose from her 
seat while talking. "If I were not a patriot, boys and girls, 
I would not be here on a cold day like this. Mr. Moore 
'phoned me last night and said that he was putting into 
practise the selective draft and that I was drafted for 
to-day. I could not go to war when Uncle Sam was selecting 
our boys to join the army. I wanted to go. I felt very much 
cheated but I tried to console myself by thinking that to 
teach boys and girls to be good citizens is just as important 
as to fight a foreign foe. If we do not have good citizens, 



TEACHING A POEM 189 

you know, we are sure always to have foes not only in 
other countries but, what is more dangerous, we will be 
our own enemies. 

"Mr. Moore said that he wanted me to teach you some 
patriotic poems because this next month is to be "Pa- 
triotic Month" in the particular form of "Health and 
Happiness." He seems to think that it is very patriotic to 
be healthy and strong and happy. I agree with him. 
Now, before we begin on this frolic — for it is to be real fun — 
will you excuse me for a few minutes while I talk seriously 
for a while to the teachers who are present?" 

The children consented, so she turned to the teachers 
and gave the following discussion : 

"In teaching poetry, the hrst thing that I have found 
it wise to do is to get the children into the spirit of the 
poem which you are going to teach. Ask some questions 
of the children that will call up real meanings that are re- 
lated to the poem. Tell some incident that will introduce 
them to it. Do something that will get them into the game. 

"When they are ready to hear the poem, read it to them 
in the most impressive manner you can. By reading, I do 
not mean read it from the book. It is far better to quote it, 
recite it, as we say. // is poor psychology to ask a child to 
memorize a poem that the teacher herself does not already 
know. 

"The aim in having children memorize a poem is not to 
provide a disagreeable task for them but rather to introduce 
them to a beautiful selection of literature. We must be 
prepared to have them FEEL that it is beautiful. We do 
not wish them to SAY that it is beautiful. We wish them 
to FEEL that it is. 

Successful T.— 13 



igo SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"Poetry should be to a child what a beautiful song is to 
him. He should come to it with the same spirit. Haven't 
you seen a real music teacher sit at a piano and sing a song 
once for children, then invite them to hum it with her, then 
sing it with her, and soon every child would be singing it. 
The child would hardly be conscious that he made an 
effort and yet he would have words, tone, the very soul, 
even, of the song. 

''This is the way it should be with poetry. Children 
should be exposed to it and under the most favorable 
conditions. You are going to make next month 'Health 
Month,' I understand. You will probably talk some 
about contagious diseases. Diseases are 'caught' only 
when the subject is in the 'right condition' for it. That 
is true not only of measles and mumps but of music and 
poetry. 

"After the subject (the pupil) is in the right frame of 
mind for your exposure, expose him just as vividly and vigor- 
ously as possible the very first time. The first impression 
is the most important one. But for fear it does not 'take,' 
you must expose him some more, that is, you must repeat 
your poem. You must continue to repeat in one form or 
another, until he has 'caught' your poem — the words, if 
possible, but the spirit especially. If he has the spirit, it 
will continue to 'run through his mind' like the refrain 
of a song until he does get it. The pyschologists call this 
sort of going over 'attentive repetition.' It takes at- 
tentive repetition to reduce a thing to memory, to make it 
' automatic ' as we say. The teacher must begin by doing 
all of the work and then gradually 'get from under the 
load ' and shift it over to the children. 



TEACHING A POEM IQI 

"This morning I am going to teach one poem to these 
children. I wish I had time to teach three because there are 
three which constitute a series which I think go together so 
well. The three poems that I would like to teach are: 

'The Flag Goes By' — Henry Holcomb Bennett 

'America for Me' — Henry van Dyke 

'America, the Beautiful' — Katharine Lee Bates." 

Turning then to the children, Miss Galligan said: — 
"Children, it was very good of you to come here this 
morning for this demonstration. You came so that we 
might show these teachers how easy it is and how much 
fun and pleasure it is to memorize poetry. I want to thank 
you for coming. 

"How many of you had an uncle or a brother in the army 
during the World War? (Nearly every one of them had.) 
"How many of you went to Amberville to see the soldiers 
when they came back from war and they had the parade 
up there?" (All of them had seen the parade.) 

"Wilbur, will you describe the parade?" 

"Well, the first thing in the line was the band, and the 
drummer was the main thing in it. Then came five fellows 
carrying the flag. After them was the general. Then several 
automobiles with crippled soldiers came next. Some more 
automobiles came along with the Red Cross nurses, 
Y.M.C.A., Knights of Columbus, and War Camp secre- 
taries. Then there was another band and some more men 
carrying another flag. After that we had the soldiers with 
their guns with bayonets on them. The soldiers had their 
blankets, their steel helmets, and all the other things that 
soldiers have. There was a long, long line of soldiers. After 



192 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

them came a lot of tanks, and a whole lot of wagons used 
in the war." 

"Yes, Wilbur, that is just right. You saw everything 
that happened, I believe. Did you notice what the people 
did when the band came by?" 

''Yes, they all patted their feet and moved in time with 
the music," replied the children. 

"What did the people do when the wounded soldiers 
came by?" 

"The people applauded. Some of the people cried." 

' ' What did the people do when the soldiers came marching 
by?" 

"Oh, everybody applauded and waved their hand- 
kerchiefs and waved to those that they knew." 

"What did they do when the flag came by?" 

"Everybody became quiet and the men took off their 
hats." ■ 

"Why did the people become quiet and why did the men 
take off their hats when the flag came by?" 

"Because the flag is the flag of our country," said Myron. 

"Because it stands for our soldiers," said John. 

"Because it stands for the authority of Uncle Sam," 
said Emma. 

"Because it stands for the schools," said Erma. 

"Because it stands for our homes," said Eddie. 

"Because it stands for everything that the American 
people stand for," said Mary. 

"Yes, children, you are all right. That was just why," 
said Miss Galligan. 

Some other children added other details. Then she said: 
" I am going to recite a poem that reminds me of what you 



TEACHING A POEM I93 

have just described. I want you to listen to it very carefully 
and see what it mentions that you saw in the parade. 

Hats off! 

Along the street there comes 

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 

A flash of color beneath the sky: 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 

Blue and crimson and white it shines. 
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines. 

Hats off! 
The colors before us fly; 
But more than the flag is passing by: 

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, 
Fought to make and to save the State: 
Weary marches and sinking ships; 
Cheers of victory on dying lips; 
Days of plenty and years of peace; 
March of a strong land's swift increase; 
Equal justice, right and law, 
Stately honor and reverend awe; 
Sign of a nation, great and strong 
To ward her people from foreign wrong: 
Pride and glory and honor, — all 
Live in the colors to stand or fall. 

Hats oft"! 

Along the street there comes 

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; 

And loyal hearts are beating high: 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 

"What did you see, children?" 
"The band," shouted one. 



194 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

''The flag," shouted several. 
"A flash of color beneath the sky," said another. 
"Good. That was fine. Listen again and tell me what 
you see this time. 

Blue and crimson and white it shines, 
Over the steel-tipped ordered lines. 
I Hats off! 

The colors before us fly; 

But more than the flag is passing by." 

"Blue and crimson and white flag," said one. "Yes, we 
have a song that says almost the same thing." 

"What song is that?" 

" Red, white and blue," came the answer. 

"Where was the flag in this poem?" 

"Over the steel- tipped ordered lines," said Erma. 

"Yes, but what does that mean? What are the steel- 
tipped, ordered lines?" she asked. 

"Why, that's the soldiers with their guns with the bay- 
onets on them," said Wilbur. 

"Now, children, the next part of this poem tells why the 
people became quiet and why the men took off their hats 
when the flag came by. I want you to listen and tell me all 
of the reasons that you can find in the poem for the people 
acting as they do in the presence of the flag." Then in fine 
tone and with serious expression, she quoted : 

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, 
Fought to make and to save the State; 
Weary marches and sinking ships; 
Cheers of victory on dying lips; 
Days of plenty and years of peace; 
March of a strong land's swift increase; 



TEACHING A POEM I95 

Equal justice, right, and law, 
Stately honor and reverend awe; 
Sign of a nation, great and strong 
To ward her people from foreign wrong: 
Pride and glory and honor, — all 
Live in the colors to stand or fall. 

"All of those things tell what the flag stands for, I 
think," said Myron. 

"Those statements tell the experiences that the flag of 
America has had and it is because the people realize this 
that they become quiet and take off their hats," said Erma. 

"That is pretty fine," said Miss Galligan, "but I want you 
to tell me the words in that selection that tell what has made 
the flag so great and so much respected." 

" 'Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, 
Fought to make and to save the State' " — answered Eddie. 

"The marches of soldiers, the sinking of ships and the 
cheers of dying soldiers" — answered another. 

" Days of plenty and peace" — chirped in another. 

" 'Equal justice, right, and law. 
Stately honor and reverend awe' " — chimed in another. 

Thus they continued until practically every expression 
had been recalled. Then Miss Galligan said : 

"Now, children, I shall quote it again and I want you 
just to say it along after me as best you can." This they did. 

" Children, the last part of this poem is just like the first 
part with one exception. I want you to notice while I say 
it and see if you can pick out the line that is different. Then 
she quoted: 



196 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Hats off! 
Along the street there comes 
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; 
And loyal hearts are beating high: 

Hats off! 
The flag is passing by! 

" I know," "I know," " I know," they began to shout. 

"Wilbur, you may tell us." 

" 'And loyal hearts are beating high,' " he said. 

"That is exactly right," she said. "Now, let's all say that 
last part together." They repeated it, almost perfectly. 

"Let's go back to the first and say that part together. 
Good and strong now. Remember the one line that is 
different from that in the last." They repeated and did it 
well. 

"Now the part of it that tells what has made the flag 
great and why we should love it. I shall lead you." They 
quoted and some of them mispronounced a word or two 
that showed that they did not fully understand. She 
stopped and made it clear and simple for them. Then they 
repeated once or twice more. Then she said: "Now all 
together from the beginning. This time I am going to start 
you and I am going to slip out of it and see if you can say it 
without me." 

She began it and they took up the poem. She watched 
them carefully and when they seemed about to fail at one 
point she tactfully came in and gave them confidence until 
they were sure of their words and then she slipped out again. 
When they had covered it in this way, she said: 

"Now I wonder who can stand right up here and say 
it all for us in the presence of this crowd. That will be 



TEACHING A POEM 197 

pretty hard, but I believe there are some here who can do 
it." 

Wilbur's hand was in the air. " Good for you, Wilbur, I 
thought you could say it." Wilbur did it well. Myron then 
said he could, and he did. 

"Now, boys and girls, I wonder if we can stand up here 
and face this audience just as our boys faced the enemy and 
say that poem so as to make these people feel that they are 
in Amberville watching the parade just as you did. Cer- 
tainly you can. Good position — heads up — soldiers, re- 
member!" 

Hilda, I wish you could have heard those children. You 
know me and for that reason it is needless for me to tell 
you what I did. I wish to explain, though, that I was not 
the only one, for there were plenty of other folks who were 
using their handkerchiefs about that time. That flag was 
prettier to me than it had ever seemed before. 

The audience burst into applause. Mr. Moore rose and 
said : — 

"That was the shortest fifteen minutes I ever spent in a 
schoolroom and probably the biggest literary day in the 
lives of those children. That will probably go with them 
throughout life." 

He thanked Miss Galligan and announced that the 
people of the neighborhood had arrived with dinner for 
the crowd. So the meeting adjourned for dinner. 

Hilda, this morning, as I observed Miss Galligan teach and 
saw the joy she was bringing into the lives of those children 
with poetry, I recalled some of the crimes to childhood and 



198 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

to literature that I have seen committed by teachers. I 
am sure that I myself have been a criminal by not making 
poetry as interesting as I might have made it. But thank 
goodness, I have never given a child a beautiful poem to 
memorize as a punishment for some ofifense, as I have 
sometimes seen teachers do. I think that is a crime against 
childhood and good literature great enough to be punish- 
able by having a teacher's certificate cancelled for life. 

I have always thought of the summer time as the time for 
protracted meetings and conversions. But, I do believe 
that this winter is proving to be "Conversion Time" for 
me, for every time I go to one of these teachers' meetings 
I come home and pray two prayers : one to be forgiven for 
my pedagogical crimes and one to be given the " true light" 
so that I may see how to walk in the right pedagogical 
paths in the future. I suppose you might call me "a chronic 
seeker" for I am always on the pedagogical mourner's 
bench. I hope yet to be one of the bright and shining 
lights in the pedagogical church. If I could sit under the 
preaching of a few more evangelists like Miss Galligan, I 
am sure that I would soon be one of the "pillars" of the 
church. 

Shouting happy, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. If a teacher is going to get children into the proper spirit for a 
poem before she presents it, what must be the relation of the 
thought of the poem and the experience of the children? What in 
the experience of the children whom Miss Galligan was teaching 
prepared them to appreciate the poem? Can experiences be 
borrowed? 



TEACHING A POEM 199 

2. I wonder why it is bad psychology for a teacher to ask her 
pupils to memorize a poem which she herself does not know? 
What good does it do for a child to memorize poetry? 

3. Why does Miss Galligan quote the entire poem before she 
asks the children to repeat any part of it? Why does she ask ques- 
tions, the answers of which will be the exact words of the poem? 
Why does she have one child quote the poem before she asks the 
entire class to quote it for the audience? 

4. How much poetry should a child memorize? What should be 
the nature of the material? Will the type of material change from 
year to year? What should be the nature of poetry for a child of six? 
Of ten? Of fifteen? Of eighteen? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Teaching Poetry in the Grades — Haliburton and Smith. 

How to Study and Teaching How to Study — McMurry. Chapter 

vn. 

How to Teach — Strayer and Norsworthy. Chapter V. 
The Teaching of English — Chubb. Chapters VI, IX. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE TELL HOW THEY ARE 
TEACHING IT 

Sunday, February 29 
My dear Hilda: 

It will be a long time before I have such a privilege as this 
again — to write to you on Sunday, the 29th of February. 
I shall use this rare day for the rare privilege of talking 
about the rare subject "Teaching Agriculture in Country 
Schools." This was the subject presented in the afternoon 
at our meeting on the 2 2d inst. The farmers seemed more 
interested in this discussion than they have been in any of 
the others. This was natural, I suppose. 

The committee consisted of Misses Fish, Anderson and 
Black, all of whom live in the northwestern corner of the 
demonstration district. Although I am rural-minded and 
do dearly love the farm and all there is about it, this fact 
has never seemed to help me in teaching agriculture. I felt 
relieved to find that I was not the only one who has had 
trouble of that sort. But I shall let the other folks talk for 
themselves. Miss Fish served as chairman of the committee 
and made the first report. She said: — 

"Friends, I have been teaching for ten years. I was 
reared on the farm. I loved the farm. I enjoyed country 
life and was ambitious to serve the country people. I 
naturally began teaching in the country. 

200 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 20I 

"When I went to my first teachers' institute, we had as 
one of the speakers a man who was at that time Head of the 
Rural Division of the Bureau of Education — Dr. H. F. 
Walstein. He is now president of our own Normal School 
here at Amberville. In his talks, he gave the substance of 
the report of Roosevelt's Country Life Commission. He 
explained why people were leaving the farm and going to 
the town. He showed how that was due to the poor econ- 
omic returns that the farmer was getting from his invest- 
ments, to the impoverished social life of the rural communi- 
ities, to the inefficient country school, to the drudgery of 
the housewife on the farm. He said that we needed a new 
sort of school, *a school that grew up out of the soil.' 

''Well, I went to my school from that institute with high 
hopes. I had a dream of a school that 'grew up out of the 
soil.' I must change that statement and say I had an 
'aspiration' for a school that 'grew up out of the soil.' 
I did not have a dream, if by a dream we mean a vision or a 
plan. I had no plan, I merely had a 'feeling.' 

" I knew little or nothing about teaching anything. Least 
of all did I know about teaching agriculture. I could teach 
other subjects somewhat as I had been taught, but I had 
never been taught agriculture. Our state adopted a book 
which was to be studied by all children in the eighth grade. 

"The study of agriculture was carried on in the same way 
as our study of history and geography. We were trying to 
see how many facts we could commit to memory that were 
foreign to our own lives. So far as its influence upon our 
own agricultural life was concerned, we might just as well 
have been memorizing the names of the ancient Pharaohs 
of Egypt and the dates of their reigns. 



202 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"You may say, 'Why did you not stop that foolish prac- 
tice and get down to studying real things?' 

"My answer is that I did not know how. To make bad 
matters worse, none of my friends or neighbors seemed to 
know how either. The county superintendent did not seem 
to know how. The result has been that I have gone on in 
that dead monotonous way for these ten years teaching a, 
book in agriculture. 

"When the president of the club named me on this com- 
mittee, I said to myself : 'I knew it! I knew it!' Of course 
I would draw that pill of a subject. Fate could not make it 
otherwise. The fact that I hate it would draw it to me like a 
steel to the magnet. 

"I put on a bold front. All the other teachers looked 
pleased with their committee appointments, so, of course, I 
could not appear to be the weakling. I put on a bold face, I 
suppose, but I want to confess now that I had a most heavy 
and cowardly heart. 

"When our committee met to agree upon plans, we soon 
discovered that we were unanimous in our opinion that we 
had drawn the most important but the most difficult sub- 
ject of the lot. 

"Miss Black was brave and inspired us by saying: 'Well, 
girls, I am a farmer. I know that agriculture is the most 
important subject in our community and I believe that it 
should be one of the most important things in my school. I 
don't know how to get at it exactly but I believe that if we 
studied it from the angle of the thing itself, we might get 
further.' 

"Then Miss Anderson, in her quiet, demure manner said: 
*Well, I have never taught before, but it seems to me that 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 203 

if that book is to be studied every year by the eighth grade, 
it will become uninteresting to the children before they 
ever come to study it. Every child in a country school 
hears all that the other children recite. It appears to me 
that if there were some plan by which all of the children in 
the school, without reference to age, would study some par- 
ticular interest each year and let those interests rotate, we 
could keep the material interesting. I feel certain that we 
could, as Miss Black suggests, if we studied the things 
themselves. It seems to me that a text might be used for 
reference but that the things themselves might be the object 
of the class study.' 

"We agreed to put these two ideas together and add one 
more to them and that these would constitute the basis for 
our report. We are ready to make it on that basis. Each 
of us has taken a different interest and we shall report 
briefly what we have done. 

" In our school here at Highlands we have taken upon our- 
selves the task of answering this question : 

" 'What breeds of hogs, cows, and horses are produced or 
used in this school district and which of each is most 
profitable for this school district and which of each is most 
profitable for this community?' 

*'In finding an answer to that question, ladies and 
gentlemen, we have been busy and happy every day. 

"We took very early a rapid invoice of the district. We 
found out what breeds there were and how many of each. 
We next took up each breed and studied it carefully as to 
cost, care and products. The farmers themselves soon be- 
came very much interested in our undertaking and gave 
us every assistance possible to arrive at the facts. Some of 



204 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



them were rivals — of a good-natured sort — and really 
wanted to know. We were supplied with information 
about the daily ration for the animals, with all details as 
to quality, quantity and cost. 

" There was not so much interest in the horses for we soon 
found that practically all the horses were Percherons. 




FINE FARM HORSES 



There was some more interest in the hogs for we found that 
there were the Duroc- Jerseys, the Poland Chinas, and the 
Chester Whites. When we came to investigate the cattle, 
we found that the community had reached the point of 
real enthusiasm. 

"Mr. Buman has a beautiful herd of Galloways. Mr. 
Hofer owns the Polls. Mr. Bass keeps the Herefords. Mr. 
Stellmeyer has a large herd of Durhams. 

"Since all these cattle are beef cattle, primarily, our 
problem was somewhat simplified. But in spite of that, we 
had to find out many facts. The rate of growth of the 
animals, the amount of food needed, the extent to which 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 205 

each would take care of itself, the attitude of the beef 
market toward each; these facts and many others had to 
be ascertained and evaluated. We worked out information 
books on each of our breeds. I have brought those books 
with me to-day and I shall pass them around now for you to 
see, 

"In our school, the subject of agriculture has changed 
from what it has been in the schools that I have taught 




HOG RAISING IN THE DISTRICT 



heretofore. We are interested in the real things now. 
We think in terms of number and value of hogs, horses and 
cattle, instead of number and value of pages of a book. To 
get our information, we have written many real letters. We 
have read not only one but many agricultural books. We 
have worked enough real arithmetic problems to fill a book. 
"We do not know a little about a great many things 
merely, but we know much about the one thing that we 
have been studying especially, in our school. We are now 
having questions from our efficient, practical farmers as to 
what the school thinks they should do in order to accom- 
plish this or that with their stock. Could you imagine 

Successful T.— 14 



206 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

such being the case where only the book was studied? 
I cannot." 

A look at those books, Hilda, shows that those children in 
that school have not been worrying about passing an 
examination on a certain number of pages in an agricultural 
book. One can see at a glance that they have had an in- 
terest far more worthy and comprehensive than that. 

While Miss Fish was talking, I could hardly listen to her 
because I was so much interested in an exhibit of bottles 
arrayed across the teacher's desk like an army on dress 
parade. When Miss Fish was through with her talk. Miss 
Anderson stood up and began to speak. She is the doll of 
our club. She is not much larger than a French doll. She 
is not much taller than the teacher's desk. 

''I notice that some of you are interested in this bottle 
exhibit," she said. "I am glad that you are. Many a bottle 
has told its tale. Each of these has its tale to tell, also. 

"My work as a part of this committee was to make a 
study of wheat and report to you how I did it. You might 
think that I would not need to study wheat since that is all 
that I have ever seen in all my long life. Short as I am, I can 
stand in my schoolhouse door and look toward the east and 
see twenty-five miles where there is practically nothing 
else ever grown. I can see almost as far in the other three 
directions and the situation is just the same. Why, then, 
should I study wheat? Why not study alligator pears or 
pineapples? I never saw either of them growing. I might 
learn something interesting and strange. No, it is because 
I am in this wheat field that I should study it. I should 
know all I can about it. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 



207 



"With this goal in view, my children and I went to work. 
We set out to answer this question : ' Is Gem County getting 
as much for its wheat crop as it should?' 

"We found that we could not answer that question 
directly. We had to answer a number of other questions 
before we could answer it. The first of those big questions 




WHEAT IS THE LEADING CROP OF THE DISTRICT 

which had to be answered was : 'Is Gem County producing 
as much wheat as it could?' 

"To answer this, we had to ask and answer these ques- 
tions : 



Is Gem County using the right sort of wheat seed? 
Is Gem County using the right scheme of crop rotation? 
Is Gem County properly draining its soil? 
Is Gem County properly plowing its soil? 
Is Gem County properly planting its seed? 
Is Gem County preventing the wild grasses from interfering 
with the wheat? 

Is Gem County harvesting and threshing its wheat? 



2o8 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"You can see the multitude of other minor questions 
which would arise in answering these questions. These 
bottles here represent the partial answers to only two of 
those questions — those relating to wheat seed and to weeds 
and wild grasses. 

"We have made a real study of wheat. We have found 
out all of the various sorts of wheat that are grown through- 
out the world. We have small samples of it here. We have 
found out the conditions under which each grows best. We 
received much help through the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture on this. We have all of the U. S. bulletins 
on wheat as a part of our library. Then, we have made a 
careful study of this county with the assistance of the county 
agent, Mr. Goodman. We know which quarter-sections of 
land in this county have produced the best wheat crops for 
the past three years. We know the variety of wheat that 
they grew and all of the conditions which led to its produc- 
tion. The bottles in this row contain samples of wheat seed. 

"The second row of bottles contains wheat enemies. We 
have studied them also. We know what are the chief enemies 
of wheat wherever wheat is grown. Then, we know which of 
those we have here in Gem County and which ones we are 
most likely to get. We have also found out the sections 
of the world from which we must be very careful not to get 
wheat in the future, if we are to avoid those other wheat 
enemies which we do not now have. 

"My children and I were greatly delighted as we studied 
these questions and as we got replies from our inquiries and 
requests. As we have gone along, each of us, including my- 
self, has kept a 'Wheat Book.' Pictures and pen sketches 
adorn almost every page. Some of us have become quite 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 209 

good artists since we started on this piece of work. We did 
not realize that we were studying drawing but we have 
learned much about it, nevertheless. 

"When we had answered the question: 'Is Gem County 
producing as much wheat as she could?' there was the 
final question — 'Is Gem County getting as much for it as 
she should?' 

"To answer this question we were led into the study of the 
whole problem of marketing. What are the different 
grades of wheat? To answer that we wrote to the Grain 
Graders' Association at St. Paul and got all the information 
that we needed. What are the advantages of having one 
grade of wheat over having another grade? What are the 
advantages of the different ways in which the wheat is 
shipped? What are the advantages of cooperative selHng? 
What is probably the best time to sell? These and a 
number of other questions had to be answered. 

"Our conclusion is that Gem County is now getting only 
one third as much for its wheat crop as it should, and as it 
could, if everybody knew as much about it as we now know. 
We think we have made some real discoveries and believe 
that Gem County should employ everyone of us to tell 
others what we know. But we are not going to wait to be 
employed, we are going to tell everybody who will listen to 
us what we think we know. 

"I have been interested in the statements made by the 
other teachers to the effect that agriculture has been hard 
to teach. I cannot understand why. To me and to all of 
my school, it has been the one most absorbing subject. The 
fact is, if we have sinned by taking too much time for 
any of our school subjects, agriculture is the one. My one 



2IO SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

explanation of it is that I have not been teaching it, I 
have been learning it. My children have simply studied 
it along with me. Wouldn't it be good if we could do 
that in all of our subjects? We might be a little more like 
real people and less like the teacher famous in song and 
story. 

"I do not like to take your thoughts off of the great 
possibilities of the subjects presented by Miss Fish and Miss 
Anderson," said Miss Black, when she began her discus- 
sion — "but I have my story to tell and I shall do it briefly, 
and then let you return to these questions and think of them 
and discuss them just as much as you like. 

"It so happens that I am the only girl in my family. I 
have a house and yard full of brothers. You can see that 
my playmates were boys and that naturally I grew up with 
some of the arts that boys are supposed to possess. Among 
those arts which I acquired by association, is the art of 
driving a horse, a Ford, or an automobile. I can also 
drive a nail, guide a saw, push a plane and wield a paint- 
brush. 

"Strange as it may seem, it so happens that all the other 
girls of my community are just the reverse of myself in one 
particular. In their families, there are no boys at all. They 
have to be their fathers' boys. They have to do many of the 
things that boys are supposed to do. For this reason, it 
seemed to me that the most practical agriculture that I 
could teach in my school this year was along the line of 
farm mechanics. That is what I have been doing. 

"We rigged up a little carpenter's shop in our side room 
that we use for general utility purposes. I have six girls who 
are in the upper grades. Each was anxious to learn how to 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 211 

do a number of things so that she might be a little more 
independent and do her own 'hammering' through life 
if she needed to do so. 

"Velma wanted to make a bookrack and a china closet. 
Veda wanted to make a graphophone case and a music 
stand. Thelma desired to make a center table and a flower 
stand. AHce desired to specialize on making swinging 
gates and doors for she said 'some of ours are always off 
or sagging.' Dora wanted to devote herself entirely to 
repair work, while Wilma said she wanted to learn how to 
make hog troughs, cattle stancheons and chicken coops. 

"With these very practical purposes before us, we went 
to work. If you want to see a manual training shop entirely 
owned and operated by girls, just come over and see us. We 
are enjoying the work very much. We are learning one of 
the skills that is necessary to make the life on the farm 
happy. Without what we are learning, it is practically 
certain that the farm will have an abandoned appearance. 
One of the things that is necessary for happy country people, 
we believe, is for buildings on the farm to have a well-kept 
appearance. This they will not have if the people who live 
on the farm are not able to manipulate the simple tools." 

Hilda, I wish you might have seen the farmers watching 
those teachers as they talked. When they were through, 
Mr. Goode, who is a very progressive and intelligent 
farmer, said: "Madam President, as one of the citizens of 
this community, and as a farmer, I want to move a vote 
of thanks to these teachers for the information that they 
have given us this afternoon. I have always thought that 
the school was a place where the children learned to read, 



212 SUCCESSPUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

write and spell, but I have learned this afternoon that the 
school, even a little one-teacher country school, can be 
much more than that if we just have the right sort of 
teachers. I have been looking over those cattle books and 
wheat books that the schools have made and I think they 
are worth money, lots of it," 

Mr. Harryman seconded the motion; it was put and car- 
ried with a whoop. 

Later, Mr. Goode said that he thought that the teachers 
should all be members of the County Farm Bureau and 
that he was going to see about it and see if that could not be 
brought about. Well, if Ray Goode gets behind the prop- 
position, it will probably become a reality. 

After hearing all that all of the teachers said and after 
seeing the effect of it on the patrons who were present at 
the meeting, I have decided that I also could teach agri- 
culture so that it would GO. 

With some of the hayseed combed out of my hair and 
with some agricultural ideas planted deep in my cranium, I 
am 

In farmerette fancies, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. I wonder if being reared in the country is an advantage or a 
handicap to a rural teacher in teaching agriculture? Which is 
most necessary to successful teaching of agriculture — knowledge 
or desire to find out? What would be the effect on the children 
of a country school if the teacher admitted to them that she did 
not know but desired to find out a certain fact? This seems to have 
been the case with Miss Anderson and yet her school seemed to have 
gotten good results in the study of wheat. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 213 

2. Is it true that one big problem in agriculture is enough to en- 
gage the entire school and community? -If this is true, does this 
mean that texts in agriculture are unnecessary? What should de- 
termine the selection of agricultural problems for study by a school? 
Were the problems of these three schools well selected? 

3. Is there a cultural value in agriculture? If so, where is the 
cultural value in these three illustrations? Might one teacher and 
group of children get culture from such a study and another not do 
so? What would make the difference? 

4. Mr. Goode thinks that the teachers should be members of 
the County Farm Bureau. For whose benefit — the teachers', the 
farmers', or whose? What could teachers do in such an organiza- 
tion? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Teaching the Common Branches — Charters. Chapter XIV. 
Country Life and the Country School — Carney. Chapter IX. 
The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee. Chapter 
XVII. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZES 

March lo 
My dear Hilda: 

I have just returned from Warren where the Demonstra- 
tion Supervisory Zone held an organization meeting for 
social and business purposes. 

At the close of my last letter, I told you that Mr, 
Goode had said that he thought the teachers should 
be members of the County Farm Bureau. Well, that was 
his idea on the impulse of the moment but when he left 
that meeting, he began to think about the idea and it 
grew. It was not long until he had a much bigger idea 
than that. 

Mr. Goode is a man who acts upon his ideas. He began 
to use his telephone and his automobile with a purpose. A 
week ago to-night a committee of people met in Warren 
upon his call to see what could be done for the southern 
end of Gem County. Two dozen people were present — they 
knew not for what, except that Ray Goode had said that 
they were needed there to do some important work. 
Among the two dozen were three teachers, one minister, 
the county agent, the home demonstration agent, the 
county nurse, the local banker, the postmaster, a school 
director from each township, three ex-soldiers, three 
farmers, two merchants, the R. F. D. man, a woman from 
each of the church societies of the community, a woman 

214 



THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZES 215 

from each of the other societies in the community, and 
others whom I do not now recall. 

As we met, each one asked the other why he was there. 
Each one replied that Mr. Goode had said that it was 
necessary, that was all he knew. Curiosity was pretty high. 
Finally, when all were present that Mr. Goode expected, he 
called us to order and said: ''Folks, I guess you have all 
been wanting to mob me for getting you here to-night 
without telling you for what purpose. Well, I am going to 
tell you now. We folks down in this end of the county are 
pretty good people. We admit it. We don't mind work. 
The fact is we like work. I believe that is one of our difi&- 
culties, we like work too well. We are doing more work 
than we are doing thinking. We have always done that. 
I think it is about time we began to do some thinking. I 
have been attending these teachers' meetings for the past 
three months, and they have set me to thinking. Our 
teachers are doing something this year that they have never 
done before. They are able to do that because they are 
working together. The farmers have learned that they can 
do things through the Farmers' Union and the County 
Farm Bureau. They can do this because they work to- 
gether in those organizations. 

"The idea which has been surging through my brain 
ever since last Saturday at the teachers' meeting is: Why 
cannot all of us people in the south end of the county work 
together for the good of all of us? 

''We have present to-night someone to represent every 
interest in this end of the county. I thought we might 
think over the matter a bit and then get the whole com- 
munity — and by the community, I mean all of the people 



2l6 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

who live in this Helping-Teacher community which is 
organized round about Warren — to come together a week 
from to-night and really organize for some definite purpose. 
Now, talk right out and say what you think. What can we 
do that will lead to something and some place better and 
beyond where we are to-day?" 

Some thought one thing and some another, but every 
one thought "Amen." The soldier boys thought there 
should be "something doing" at least twice a week. They 
said there was "something doing" every night when they 
were in the army. The farmers thought we should take up 
the matter of marketing and cooperative buying. The 
merchants thought that the cooperation between the town 
and the country should be considered. The church en- 
thusiasts felt that the needs of the church should be 
given unbiased consideration by the community to see what 
it had to offer. The banker felt that a study of thrift was a 
worthy undertaking for the community. The teachers said 
that the consolidation of schools and better supervisory 
assistance were the things which meant most to the future 
of the community. There were a few other suggestions 
made. Finally, when each one had given vent to his noble 
ideas and had heard the claims of everyone else, Mr. Goode 
talked some more. 

"Folks," said he, "I think, probably, we have done 
enough for to-night. Now, what we want to do is to get 
everybody else in the community to thinking just as we 
have been thinking to-night. Let's not organize or decide 
on anything to-night. It has been good for us to come to- 
gether to get our brain cells to acting and our hearts to 
beating in the same time. If we can all go back to our own 



THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZES 217 

little neighborhoods and discuss with our families and 
friends what has been discussed here to-night and make 
it clear to everybody that nothing is decided, I beheve 
that a week from now we can get down to business. 
Think about the needs of the south end of Gem County, 
talk about them, get your friends thinking and talking, 
and let's come back here a week from to-night. Get 
everyone else to come also. Then, let's do business for our 
community." 

We have just done that business, Hilda. The largest 
gathering of adult people that ever assembled at Warren 
met there to-night. The topic for discussion was "What do 
we need in the south end of Gem County?" 

A report was made by the secretary of our last week's 
meeting of what was discussed at that time. The meeting 
was then thrown open for general discussion. Usually 
farmers and farmers' wives are very averse to talking in 
public, but to-night it seemed that nearly everyone had 
something to say. A week of personal conversation in the 
informal meetings of the people in their homes and on the 
roads, and wherever they happened to meet, had given them 
an interest in the subject, familiarity with the thoughts 
about it, and ease in talking about it. They talked at this 
meeting almost as they would at their own homes. 

Usually when we have met in such gatherings, hereto- 
fore, the talk has been done by some outside speakers. 
To-night the outside people sat on the side-lines and watched 
the game. Mr. Moore was there and so were the county 
agent, demonstration agent, and the nurse, but all they did 
was to say "Amen." The people did the work. That's 
what I call getting down to bedrock. 



2l8 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Finally, when everyone had had his "say" and was con- 
vinced that big things could be done if a plan was made for 
it and everybody got behind it, Mr. Goode said, "Well, 
folks, what shall we do?" 

Mr. Bogle, the banker, arose and said: "Mr. Chairman, 
it is very plain to me that the biggest interest of this 
audience is in the schools of the community. It is also 
evident that more other interests can be worked through 
the schools as agencies than through any other agency. 
Good roads and the schools are inseparable. Better farming 
and the schools must go together in the future. Our people 
will never learn to play, to sing, to cooperate on any under- 
taking, except as they learn it through our schools. Our 
ideals must be the product of our schools. The schoolhouse 
is the community's natural center for all sorts of interests. 
I move, therefore, that our first community undertaking 
shall be to study in a businesslike and impartial way the 
organization of our schools so as to promote the general 
interest of this end of the county. This will take in prac- 
tically all of the other interests of the community." 

The motion was seconded, put, and carried in less time 
than it takes to tell it. 

"How shall we organize so as to carry this proposition 
through without the objection of any interest or faction in 
our community ? " asked the chairman. 

Mr. Dunkleman was the first man on the floor to reply. 
Mr. Dunkleman is a small man, getting a little aged, but 
the most enthusiastic old man you ever saw. "Mr. Chair- 
man," he said, "your point is well made. We cannot 
afford to have a big idea like this go on the rocks 
because some person or some organization thinks he or it 



THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZES 219 

is not sufficiently considered. We are all more or less selfish 
and more or less proud. We have a habit of wanting things 
our way. The only way to prevent that is to let everyone 
and every organization feel that he and it has a part in the 
general community organization. I move, therefore, that 
we have a steering committee or executive council com- 
posed of representatives of every organization in our 
Demonstration Zone in proportion to the number of 
members in the organization. In addition to that I would 
like to move that our helping-teacher, our various county 
service agents, and our R. F. D. man shall be ex-ofhcio 
members of the council." 

The pros and cons of the motion were discussed for a bit 
and then put and carried. Each organization was instructed 
to elect its member of the executive council at once and the 
council is to meet a week from to-night for final organiza- 
tion. Already I can see big things in the distance. It was 
generally agreed to-night that the council would divide it- 
self into committees that would work on special interests 
and report back to the council for general planning. The 
committees will make proposals and investigations. The 
council will make decisions. 

The special committees will probably be : 

(i) An educational committee. 

(2) A social committee. 

(3) An industrial and commercial committee. 

(4) A committee on recreation. 

There will probably be special committees from time to 
time to do special things. There may be some permanent 
committees besides those named above. From the start 



220 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

we made to-night, I feel confident that our beginning is 
going to be auspicious. No one showed a little or mean 
spirit to-night. I believe every organization will elect its 
wisest and most cooperative member to serve as its mem- 
ber of the executive council. If that is done, all will be 
well. 

Hilda, I used to be lonesome, professionally. I am not 
lonesome any more. I used to feel like a "school teacher." 
I now feel like a "human being" engaged in the business 
of teaching. After this meeting to-night, I feel that all 
of us in this end of the county are engaged in the 
same job — making a better Gem County, a better Middle 
West, a better America, a better world. The only difference 
between us is just the difference in the committee on which 
we are working. In a broad sense, everyone in the commu- 
nity is apart of at least one of these committees. We are 
all to report our work and our wish to the Executive 
Council. 

Say, wouldn't it be fine if everyone in the whole world 
could get that idea of his work and his relation to the other 
fellow's work? 

Mr. Goode was right when he said: "We are all good 
folks. We admit it. We all like to work. The fact is we 
like better to work than to think." 

It seems to me that we have been going along working 
for ourselves and for our crowd without realizing that in 
order really to succeed, we must work with others and 
think of the welfare of others. We have been doing too 
much work and doing too little thinking. I think that has 
been especially true of us rural people. As soon as we begin 
to think, we are going to begin to work together in larger 



THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZES 221 

and larger units. When we do that, we are going to do more, 
do it more easily and with more pleasure. 

I wish I could follow the dream a little farther but I 
must cease my daydreaming and get some sleep, for the night 
is far spent. I am 

At least partially organized, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Mr. Goode seems to have been able to get all of the people of 
his end of the county to work together to a purpose. Is there such 
a leader in every community? In what did Mr. Goode show most 
effectively his power of leadership? What are the reasons which 
cause many community leaders to fail? 

2. It took two meetings for the community to formulate a plan 
for organization. What was gained by waiting? 

3. There was a great deal of discussion before the organization 
was decided upon. There were a number of different purposes 
expressed as worthy aims for the club. How was a unified purpose 
decided upon by a body so diverse in its interests? 

4. Was Mr. Bogle correct when he said that more community 
interests could be served through the school than through any 
other agency? What are the other rural interests that can be 
served through a real community school? 

5. Are there any other rural communities in America in which 
there are live, successful organizations which include all of the 
factors of the community? How were they organized? Why have 
they succeeded? Where have they been organized and failed? Why 
did they fail? 

6. How large should a rural community be, in number of people 
and in territory, in order to make the most effective organization 
for social and economic purposes? What effect should roads, 
mountains, rivers, etc., have upon the organization? 

Successful T. — 15 



222 successful teaching in rural schools 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Readings in Rural Sociology — Phelan. Chapter XIX. 

How to Organize a Rural Community — by Morgan — in Readings 

in Rural Sociology — Phelan. 
Country Life and the Country School — Carney. Chapters VII and 

VIII. 
Rxural Life — Galpin. 



CHAPTER XX 

''health and happiness" hold full sway 

March 201 
Dear Hilda: 

" Health and Happiness " have been the magic words for 
the month and especially for the week that is just closing. 
These have been the words that have lured us on in our 
work and in our play. Mr. Moore is a practical psycholo- 
gist. As I have said before, he makes maximum use of 
the power of suggestion. He has found that it is easy to 
get everybody to think about the same thing at the same 
time and that when everybody is thinking about the same 
thing, it is easy to get everybody to do something about 
that thing. 

Mr. Moore says that he has observed the action of a mob. 
He says that men participate in mob violence who do not 
believe in it, who even bitterly disapprove of mob methods 
and abhor the results. They participate in the mob simply 
because they are swept off their feet by the crowd feeling 
and crowd action. He says that if people will do bad 
things as a result of crowd feeling and crowd action, they 
will also do good things in the same way. This "crowd 
action" is a manifestation of an element that is instinctive 
in man. Instincts are good or bad only as they are used to 
good or bad purposes. This is a principle on which re- 
ligious revivals and political campaigns are conducted. 
This was the principle which was applied during the war in 

223 



224 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

our thrift stamp, liberty loan, and benevolent society- 
campaigns. 

Very closely related to this is the power of suggestion 
which is used in advertising. Take for instance "Kalian's 
Malted Milk" or "Aunt Jerusha's Potato Pone." After 
one has seen those advertisements many times, he comes 
to feel that those are just the things needed. Suggestion 
does it. If, then, this group action is an instinct, fundamen- 
tal in man, if suggestion is the way to create a desire in man 
for emotional ends or commercial needs, why should not 
these forces be used and capitalized in "putting over" the 
educational ideals and getting the educational ends that 
are desirable in society? 

This is the way Mr. Moore sees it and this is the principle 
which he is putting to the test in his school work this year. 
If I am any judge, his theory is a correct one. At any rate, 
it is working out in the school affairs of our little Demon- 
stration Zone. 

Mr. Moore says that the schools have the greatest op- 
portunity of any institution of society. Children are the 
most plastic part of society. They are the most susceptible 
to suggestion. Suggestions can be transmitted to parents 
through children better than through any other means. 
The school reaches more directly a larger part of every 
community than does any other community agency. For 
these reasons, Mr. Moore says that if the schools do not 
get what they need and do not do what they should, it is 
their own fault. It is simply because they have not capi- 
talized their natural advantages and advertised their 
work and their needs. He has so thoroughly convinced me 
of the truth of this that I am going to cease wailing about 



''health and happiness" hold full sway 225 

the lack of public interest in the needs and importance 
of the schools. I am going to begin to wail about the ab- 
sence of good practical psychologists and wise advertisers 
in the school business. 

I started to tell you about our "Health and Happiness" 
campaign but got off on the subject of advertising and 
crowd psychology. I did that because of the relation which 
those things have to our "Health and Happiness" work. 

Two months ago, Mr. Moore discussed the idea with us 
at our club meeting. He discussed it very briefly and then 
suggested that we think about it until the next meeting and 
that we then be prepared to suggest how we could make it 
GO during the month of March. In The Zone Pacemaker 
(that is our school paper, I'll write you about it later) for 
February, he discussed the coming event — the "Health 
and Happiness Week." In the " Smiling Sheet" (that is the 
comic supplement to the Pacemaker) of the same issue, 
the most common health crimes of children were cartooned 
in appropriate fashion. The week of March 15-20 was 
designated as "Health and Happiness Week" and there 
was not a single family in any of the fifteen school com- 
munities of the Demonstration Zone whodidnot KNOW it, 
had heard it at least a dozen times and possibly in a dozen 
different ways. 

To explain this I must remind you that this has also been 
"Language Month" and we have done all of the language 
stunts of which we could think and have related them to the 
big idea — "Health and Happiness." The children have 
entered fully into the spirit of the campaign. We have 
sung songs which breathed the spirit of happiness and 
preached the gospel of health. We have studied the lives 




226 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS HOLD FULL SWAY 227 

of Theodore Roosevelt, Sophie B. Wright, and a score of 
others who, by their courage and their effort, have im- 
proved themselves and blessed the world in spite of an ini- 
tial physical handicap. 

The children have daily brought to the school interesting 
and appropriate material which they have found in their 
home reading or which their parents have found for them. 
The children have been inspired to write not only good 
prose compositions but some of them have written some 
excellent poetry and some snappy, delightful little dramas 
relating to health. Many children have written their first 
poems or first dramas during the past month. Every school 
community of our group has discovered that it has a little 
Macaulay, Milton or Shakespeare who heretofore has been 
mute and inglorious. Community pride and literary- 
interest have been multiplied during the past month by 
some large unknown quantity. The immediate big motive 
for this literary effort, on the part of the larger children 
was to see who would have the honor of creating something 
which was good enough to be used as the stunt for their 
school at the "Health and Happiness " meeting which was 
held for every three schools in the zone. 

On Friday of last week all the teachers of our zone re- 
ceived a letter from Mr. Moore giving a detailed program 
for his visits and work for the week (he always does that), 
and stating that he would bring four visitors with him. The 
visitors whom he was going to bring were County Agri- 
cultural Agent Goodman, County Home Demonstration 
Agent Story, Dentist Deere, and, most important of all, 
County Red Cross Nurse MacRea. He said that they would 
visit three schools each day, observe the language work in 



228 SUCCESSPUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

each for thirty minutes, and would then make a physical 
examination of every child. They would visit the three 
schools in this way. At the second school visited, they 
would eat dinner and return to it to hold the night meet- 
ing. They would eat supper in the community of the 
third school visited each day, and would return to the 
first community visited each day and spend the night in 




THE DENTIST AND THE RED CROSS NURSE VISIT THE SCHOOL 

it. He requested that the visitors be distributed as much 
as possible among the people of each community. The pur- 
pose of this was twofold : first, not to prove a burden to 
any family, and, second, to be able to visit with as many 
families as possible. 

It is Mr. Moore's belief, and I beheve it is sound, that one 
of the best ways to educate the people as to the work which 
the school is trying to do and the needs that the schools 
have, is to visit with them in their homes and talk with 
them informally. For the past three months he has been 
walking on his trips when visiting the schools. He has 
been living with the people, eating and sleeping wherever 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS HOLD FULL SWAY 229 

he happened to be when the time came. He has been thriv- 
ing on it and the people like it. This convinced him that 
he could bring a "whole troupe" with him and that the 
people would welcome them. They did. 

I wish you might have seen the children disputing 
among themselves as to who should entertain whom. The 
fellow who was left out entirely was the inconsolable one. 
The children were on tip-toe of expectancy awaiting the 
arrival of the "Health and Happiness Troupe," as they 
called the visitors. A few months ago they would have 
been scared out of their wits by the thought of such a visit. 
How remarkable is the possibiUty of change in educational 
and social attitude! 

Mr. Moore said that their visits to the schools were a 
"progressive, theatrical, and physical tournament." The 
ideas of good language and good health were always kept 
in the foreground. After a day of observation of language 
work, physical examination of the children, and visits 
with the people, the "troupe" gathered at the middle 
school of the three visited during the day to conduct the 
"Health and Happiness" meeting. They summed up the 
observations of the day, made informational talks on health 
and gave specific suggestions as to how to keep healthy. 
The children and the people of the schools visited during 
the day were all present to do, to see, and to hear. Everyone 
present had some part to perform in making the meeting a 
success, even if it was nothing but to stand up and be 
counted for his school. 

The program for the evening was as follows: 

1. An Original Language-Health Stunt by School No. i. 

2. Relation of Cooking and Eating to Health — Miss Story. 



230 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

3. Relation of Teeth to Health and Happiness — Dr. Deere. 

4. An Original Language-Health Stunt by School No. 2. 

5. Relation of Animal Health to Human Health — Mr. Gooa- 
man. 

6. How to Keep Healthy and Happy — Miss MacRea. 

7. The Relation of Schoolhouses to Health and Happiness — 
Mr. Moore. 

8. Questions and Answers about Health — The People, The 
"Troupe." 

9. An Original Language-Health Stunt by School No. 3. 

The next issue of the Pacemaker will contain a detailed 
report of the health situation as the survey revealed it. 
Every child's status will be given with recommendations 
for his improvement. 

I wrote you some time ago about teamwork. I did not 
know that my dream was so soon to be realized, but it has 
been already. When I saw those five people who formed 
the "Health and Happiness Troupe" all centering their 
efforts and the attention of everyone else on one thing — 
HEALTH — I realized that my dreams were not nearly so 
large as the reality. The value of this tour, to the life and 
the happiness of this community, is incalculable. The 
community has been touched in almost every vital spot 
through this work which was based upon health. The 
live stock industry was investigated and discussed by Mr. 
Goodman; the conservation, preparation, and serving of 
foods, by Miss Story; the living abode and the human 
body, by Miss MacRea; the teeth as one of the chief 
sources of joys and sorrows, by Dr. Deere; and the school- 
house as the community's center either for the distri- 
bution of ideas conducing to health and happiness or for 
the spread of disease germs was presented by Mr. Moore. 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS HOLD FULL SWAY 23 1 

These meetings have set the people talking and thinking 
about many things which formerly were supposed to be 
the exclusive possessions of the experts. 

Some of the colleges and universities, I understand, are 
conducting what they call extension courses. Judging from 
the success of this series of meetings, I believe that any 
county can have its own extension courses and can provide 
its own technical experts. 

The general result of this series of meetings, with the 
things which have been done as incidents to them, is that 
the people are more awake than ever before to the human 
side of living. They see that materials are but means to a 
hving and not the end for which we should labor. They see 
the place which the schools can play and should play as 
an agency for social betterment. They begin to reahze 
that for the school to do the big job that is possible for it, 
it — the school — must be a bigger institution in the future 
than it has been in the past. It must be better supported, 
better planned, better manned, better "womaned." It 
must be better organized, more in keeping with sensible 
business principles. It must be better equipped in order 
to do its work. But, above all, it must be directed by 
people who have broad vision, big soul, and boundless 
energy. They must have vision broad enough to see 
the relation between cause and effect, immediate and 
remote cause, cause of detail and cause of fundamental 
principle. They must have soul big enough to love all — 
even the unthinking, the unlovely, and the bhndly antag- 
onistic. They must have energy great enough to work on 
and on, increasing in volume and quality with the passing 
of time. 



232 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

You see that I am yet likely to mount the platform or to 
ascend into the pulpit if my educational religion continues 
to increase. 

Healthily and happily, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1 . Is it really true that there is an unconscious wave of thought 
and feeling that passes from one to another, particularly in crowds? 
What events in our life can be explained upon such a theory? Are 
we not governed more by thought than by feeling? Should we, as 
teachers, give much thought to a consideration of the unconscious 
influences that prompt people to action? 

2. Is Mr. Moore right when he says that school people get 
about what they really deserve; that if their salaries are not high 
and their school work not appreciated and school needs not under- 
stood, they have only themselves to blame for it? What should 
teachers do in order to be able to present their work to the public 
in a way that it will be understood and appreciated? 

3. "Health and Happiness Campaign!" That is a rather novel 
idea. I believe I like that better than to call it a "Campaign 
Against Disease and Death." It had the same purpose, but it 
sounds a little more attractive. I think that must be a practical 
application of crowd psychology. 

4. What is the advantage for country service of a "Health 
Troupe" over a lone health worker? Could such a troupe be se- 
cured for such a campaign in any county in America? Could pro- 
fessional men be induced to join in such a campaign without charge 
for their services? 

5. Martha seems so much interested in "Health and Happi- 
ness" that she largely overlooks the work the children did in 
language work. To me, that is the most interesting part of the 
story. Here they have used a big health crusade as subject 
matter for written language work. She has talked more about 
"Health Troupe" than she has about the work of those little 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS HOLD FULL SWAY 233 

mute and inglorious Miltons. Why did she not inclose some of 
their poems, stories, or dramas? I wonder if I could not get some 
effective written work in my school by the same plan? What would 
be some subjects and situations relating to health that would inspire 
a child to write poetry, drama, or prose? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Festivals and Plays in Schools and elsewhere. — Chubb. Chapters 

II, IX. 
Social Control — Ross. Chapters XII, XIV, XV. 
Social Psychology — Ross. Chapters II, IV, V. 
The Teacher, the School, and the Community — McFee, Chapter 

XIII. 



CHAPTER XXI 

WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 

Sunday, March 28 
Dear Hilda: 

I had so much to tell you last week about our "Health 
and Happiness Campaign" that I did not tell you anything 
about our last meeting held at Miss Black's school on 
March 20th. 

We have had a great ambition to hold every meeting 
just as we planned it last September. During the week 
before the 20th, we had wind the like of which I have never 
seen before even in March in the Middle West. In spite of 
that we held our "Health and Happiness" meetings just 
as planned. But the weather was like the old negro crap- 
shooter's luck— "it was awfully bad all the week until 
late Friday night, when suddenly it changed and — got 
wuss." 

Yes, a six-inch snow fell on Friday night. In spite of it, 
Saturday morning at ten o'clock the whole crowd— teachers, 
children, interested patrons, and camp followers — was at 
Miss Black's school. The day was beautiful. Every cloud 
had disappeared. Calm reigned supreme. All seemed to 
feel that this was the winter's farewell and therefore the 
last chance to have good sleigh rides. So there they were 
from all over the zone. Mr. Dunkleman went over from 
Warren and took Miss High and a sleigh full of children for 
a demonstration in language. Mr. Stellmeyer had come 

234 



WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 235 

down with Miss Fox and her school who demonstrated 
for us along health Hnes. Mr. Ransom had come up 
from Marshfield with his usual attendants, and Mr. Goode, 
from the neighboring district, was up to report on the Farm 
Bureau proposition which he suggested at the last meeting. 
The people of the community in which the meeting was 
held were out in force supplying the usual good dinner 
which we always have on such occasions. 

Miss Fox was the chairman of the Hygiene Committee 
which made its report in the afternoon. 

"You people thought probably that the Hygiene Com- 
mittee would not be present to make its report to-day on 
account of the weather," she said by way of introduction. 
"There is where you are mistaken. There is no conflict 
between deep snow and good health in the Middle West. 
The fact is, the two go together. The more it snows, the 
more healthy we are. 

"I feel that our committee is the most fortunate of all 
of the committees appointed to study the special subjects 
during the year. We are fortunate because our report came 
last and also because it happens that this is the month when 
all of us have been thinking more or less about this subject. 

"I am a fanatic on the subject of play. For this reason, 
when we had our committee meeting to decide upon ' realms 
of influence,' I seized the subject of 'exercise,' and told 
the other teachers that for me that was a 'vital interest' 
and was not 'subject to arbitration.' They were quite 
agreeable and as a result I have been left to work my own 
will and succeed or fail according to my deserts. 

" Fortunately for me, my children are also lovers of play. 
By play, I mean to include also, general physical exercise. 



236 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"One of the first accomplishments of the year for our 
school was to secure a good graphophone. This we did by 
having an entertainment at the school at which we cleared 
seventy dollars. After we got that machine, we combined 
music and exercise. 

"We secured some records which were for march time. 
With these we did all of the marches and all of the formal 
exercises that called for counting of 'one- two ' time. Then 
we got some other records for the folk dances. 

"We secured Miss Bancroft's book on Plays and Games, 
and a few other books besides. From that source we have 
been able to find all the suggestions for exercise, play, 
rhythm, and sport that we needed. 

" 'To grow physically perfect' has been our goal. At 
the beginning of our exercise work, each child was carefully 
examined to see where his shortcomings were. Each one 
weighed, measured, tested himself by all the standards of 
which we knew, to find out how he ranked as a physical 
specimen. There were a number of other things besides 
exercise that were necessary to correct those limitations. 
These we have tried to do also. I shall not discuss them since 
they are to be given by Miss Noel and Miss Walton as a 
part of their reports. 

"To walk, stand, and sit correctly were a part of the 
standards that we set for ourselves. To exercise wisely; 
to enjoy our exercise while we were doing it was also one of 
our standards. If we found that we were not getting as 
much pleasure as we believed we should out of a game or a 
formal exercise, we changed it at once. 

"I believe you will get more pleasure out of this if I 
have my children do some of the exercises for you than you 



WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 



237 



will if I talk longer. I shall therefore have them show you 
three types of exercise which we take almost daily. 

"Swedish exercises: The purpose of these is chiefly 
corrective in nature. In this we try to develop a high 
standard for form. The ideal which the child has for him- 
self in this determines largely the value he will get out of it. 
This constitutes only a small part of our exercise. Were 




OUT-DOOR GAMES AT THE SCHOOL 

this all that we did, I think the children would soon tire of 
it, for it is too formal. 

'^Out-door and in-door games: These are, probably, 
the very best single form of exercise for the children. In 
these, the game is the motive and the exercise is secured 
naturally and unconsciously. This is best except where 
corrective work is needed. We try to do most of these games 
out of doors. Sometimes the weather is too cold for us to 
play out of doors. When it is, we play inside. 

^'Folk dances: The purposes of these are two. They 
give physical exercise. They provide rhythm and grace 
and an appreciation of music. 

Successful T— 16 



238 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

"We always take great care to see that the exercise is 
taken under proper conditions. We make certain that we 
have the house well ventilated when we are playing inside. 
We make certain that no child gets too warm while taking 
exercise and then cools suddenly. 'Temperance in play as 
in other things ' is our motto. 

"The children will demonstrate each of these types of 
exercise and then Miss Noel will discuss: 'Food for the 
Family.' " 

There were two features of the demonstrations by those 
children which impressed me very much, Hilda. One was 
that those children were of all sizes, as you would of course 
see in the usual country school. In spite of this, there was 
fine teamwork. The second thing which struck me was that 
practically every child in the group served as a leader of 
some exercise. Miss Fox did nothing but sit back and 
say: "Myrtle, you may lead this game." "Marie, you may 
direct the next exercise," and some other little words 
of guidance; a very good way to educate leaders and 
followers for a democracy, don't you think? I should say, 
also, that when these children were preparing to demon- 
strate these games for us, they were doing a good project. 
It was a project of the type in which physical skill is the 
desired goal. 

"Friends, you could look at me with my one hundred 
and forty-nine pounds and know that I am interested in 
this matter of 'Food for the Family,' " began Miss Noel. 

"Food was the first conscious interest that I ever had, 
and I doubt not but that it will be my last. I have com- 
mitted but few sins of omission when it comes to eating. 
My sins have all been sins of commission. I fear, though, 



WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 239 

that eating has been too often hke that of the scriptural 
ox, I have eaten when I was hungry and have been indiffer- 
ent to what I would eat until I became hungry again. I 
mean to say that I have not given serious, thoughtful con- 
sideration to the matter of foods. 

"What is true of me, I fear, is true of too many of the 
world's people. 

"Our desire to make money has caused us in recent years 
to give much consideration to the matter of feeding for 
hogs and cattle. Several years ago, even, any intelligent 
farmer could talk to you in accurate and scientific terms 
about the rations which he was feeding to his cow in order 
to get the best results in milk and butter. He could tell you 
exactly the effect upon his hogs, at various ages, of different 
sorts of foods. 

" This was excellent. It was as it should be. The tragedy 
of life, though, was that his wife at the same time could not 
discuss with accuracy, equally scientific, the rations which 
the family were eating and should eat. The farmer knew 
that his six- weeks-old pigs and his six-months-old hog should 
have different rations. Too often his wife did not know 
that her six-months-old baby, her six-year-old child, her 
sixteen-year-old son, and her sixty-year-old mother should 
not have the same kind of a ration. 

"This is the matter to which we, in our school, have been 
giving our attention during the last month. We set out to 
answer a few questions, chiefly, these: 

What foods should people of different ages eat? 
What foods should they eat at the different meals during the day? 
What is the difference in what people should eat in the summer 
and in the winter? 



240 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

What quantities should people eat at different ages and while 
doing different kinds of work? 

"In order to make this matter concrete for us, we have 
devised a series of charts which we keep hanging in our 
schoolroom. We have watched them grow. Those charts 
we have named as follows: 

One: Baby. 

Two: Bill. 

Three: Brother Tom. 

Four: Dad. 

Five: Mother. 

Six: Grandmother. 

"We have taken up each of these and have found out all 
that we could as to the kind and quality of food needed. 
How should it be eaten? When should it be eaten? How 
much of it should be eaten by each? From these studies, 
friends, I think that we have been able to revolutionize 
the eating of our community for the present. I think that 
these children who have helped to make this study will 
remember these lessons throughout their hves and pass 
them on to the next generation. I shall ask six of my 
pupils to tell you about these six charts." 

The children told their stories with so much confidence 
and ease that it was amusing. To hear a child who is only 
in the second grade talking about sugars, fats, carbohy- 
drates, proteids, etc., as he would about eggs, meat, butter 
and milk was too amusing for words. What impressed 
me was that they seemed to understand those terms which 
we think of as technical, just as well as they did the terms 
which we think of as non- technical. It shows, Hilda, 



WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 241 

that we do not usually give children credit for as much 
intelligence as they really have. I sometimes think that 
it is we adults who are really lacking in intelligence. 

Miss Walton spoke next. She said in part: 

"I was trained in the old school of pedagogy. Then, we 
used to memorize everything. Such a discussion as this 
which we have just had on the subject of foods and their 
effects upon the body would have been impossible in the 
school where I studied what we called 'Physiology.' 

" In that day, no stress was placed upon what people did. 
All stress was placed upon what people knew. I recall that 
in church affairs in those days, the stress was placed upon 
what people believed, not upon what they did. In later 
times, we have reversed our methods very much. We seem 
not to care now what people believe or even what they know. 
We are interested only in what they do. Well, in health 
matters at any rate, I am convinced that this is the better 
plan. 

"When I was a youngster, I could name every item of the 
body from the marrow in the bones up to the nails and the 
hair. What good it has ever done me, I am not now able to 
tell. I have not even been able to startle any of my friends 
by calling off the names of the bones. 

"What people do is determined chiefly by habits. Since 
I became conscious of that fact, I have been devoting myself 
to creating in children those habits which I think most 
necessary to good health. The knowledge that these chil- 
dren have just shown about the different foods which the 
body needs at the different ages is very interesting, indeed. 
It will never do anyone any good, though, unless it is put 
into practice in the homes of the people three times every 



242 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

day. This knowledge must become a sort of second nature 
to the family in order to be effective. 

"In our school, therefore, we have asked ourselves: 
What habits will be most conducive to good health? 

"We have, after careful study, decided that they are: 

One: Habits of cleanliness. 
Two: Habits of regularity. 
Three: Habits of proper eating. 
Four: Habits of proper sleeping. 
Five: Habits of correct posture. 

"In order to form habits, there must be much repetition 
with attention to the essentials until the habit is fixed. 
We may know that a practice has become a habit when we 
are much more comfortable while doing it than we are when 
we omit it. To do anything in the usual way is usually 
pleasing and satisfying. To do anything in an unusual way 
is usually displeasing and annoying. 

"Now, in order to get this great amount of desired repeti- 
tion without its becoming annoying, there needs to be 
something to take the attention off the thing itself, and 
to center it on some other secondary interest. That 
secondary interest is better when it is a game. We have been 
trying to fix these health habits through games, during the 
past month especially. 

"We are forming our habits by becoming Health Cru- 
saders. There is promotion in the ranks of the Crusaders 
according to the number of things that the child has done 
systematically. You are all familiar with the plan. I shall 
not discuss it. The one point which I do wish to emphasize 
is that the teacher and the parent must realize that there is 
no honor in the child's winning a badge. The honor comes 



WHAT THE HYGIENE COMMITTEE SAID 243 

in forming a correct habit of health so that it will never 
forsake him. 

"Bad habits hurt us and we must avoid them. We must 
break them up when we find that they have been formed. 
But we must realize also that there are good habits. These 
good habits do serve our bodies well and good habits may 
even save our souls. So, let's form good habits in the lives 
of our pupils if we would do most for them now and here- 
after." 

This last little talk was quite a sermon to me. I have 
heard so much in recent years against memorizing and 
against doing things in a habitual way, that I had come to 
have a sort of scorn for habit. But I can see the point that 
Miss Walton made. I now realize that there is probably 
some very good reason for the existence of anything that 
has ever existed. It was the survival of the fittest at some 
time and for that reason justifies our respectful considera- 
tion. One of the habits which we should all have, I presume, 
is the habit of investigation, of testing out whatever is sub- 
mitted to us to see what in it is good. 

Standing erect, shoulders back, chin up and feeling proud, 
I am 

Faithfully, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

I. The "health and happiness campaign" was for the purpose 
of ascertaining the health facts, and making the public conscious 
of them. The purpose of the work about which Misses Fox, Noel 
and Walton told seems to have been to fix habits of conduct. Which 
is the more important? Can they be separated? Should they be 
separated? Ever? When? Why? 



244 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

2. Are games really a better form of exercise for children than 
are formal exercises? What are the reasons to be urged for and 
against this contention? What are the most suitable games for 
children to play indoors on cold days? What are the most suitable 
games for the playgrounds? Why are these games suitable? 

3. Is music really a help to physical exercise? In what ways is it 
most helpful? What are some folk games and folk songs that are 
suitable for school purposes? What books contain these songs and 
games? Have we any American folk games and folk songs that are 
suitable for such purposes? How can the teacher be most effective 
in promoting joyous songs and games? 

4. Is it true that a family could know what to eat and yet not 
have the proper menu? Is the practice of varying the food a matter 
of habit just as is brushing the teeth or bathing? Does not one's 
supply of food materials determine the menu more than does habit? 

5. Is there any advantage in making posters, which bear the 
needed information about foods, over having the children read the 
same information from the books? What advantage comes from 
having the posters named for different members of the family? 

6. Is it true that knowledge of the anatomy of the body is 
unnecessary for the safeguarding of one's health? When should the 
habits for safeguarding health be formed? Did Miss Walton center 
the attention of the school upon the fixing of the most important 
health habits? What would I add to the list? 

7. Are games, races, rewards, etc., legitimate as means by which 
to fix health habits? Do I know of instances where habits were 
fixed in this way? Does the custom cease when the game is over? 
When bad habits are already fixed, what is the best way to break 
them up and establish correct ones in their place? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium — 

Bancroft. 
Teaching the Common Branches — Charters. Chapter XIII. 
The Science and the Art of Teaching — La Rue. Chapter V. 



CHAPTER XXII 

SPELLING AND THE FORMING OF HABITS 

April 1 8 
Dear Hilda: 

Learning to spell is forming a habit. It is just like learn- 
ing to write, learning the multiplication table, the forty-five 
combinations, or to drive a Ford. A certain thing must be 
done in a certain way. Great attention has to be given to 
it in the beginning until the way of doing it, the process, is 
learned. Then it can be largely dismissed. One can do it 
without thinking. The interesting thing to me about 
forming a habit is the conditions under which it is 
formed most easily and most effectively. The more in- 
terest a pupil has in what he is learning, the more atten- 
tion he gives to the details of what he is doing, the nearer 
he comes to doing it in exactly the right way, and in the 
same way each time — I say, the more nearly he follows 
these conditions, the more quickly and effectively the habit 
is formed. 

We have been having our second round of emphasis on 
spelling. I wrote you last winter of our spelling match 
which was based on the Gem County historical, social, and 
agricultural words. The purpose of that match was chiefly 
for fun and to develop a group consciousness among the 
people in our zone. It also served to develop an intelligent 
interest in agriculture. It was the basis for much excellent 
work along language lines but its most serious purpose was 

245 



246 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

to develop a group consciousness and a social consciousness 
among the schools and people of our zone. 

The purpose of the recent spelling work has been entirely 
different. Its sole purpose has been to teach spelling and 
to form the habit of spelling correctly. I did not know until 
this month that we do not need to have the habit of spelling 
correctly very many words. I had always thought of the 
unabridged dictionary as the real spelling book, all the 
words of which one should really aspire to be able to spell. 
When I began to inform myself on the subject, I found that 
this was far from true. I found that we need to know how to 
spell automatically — that is without having to think — only 
those words which we use in writing, and very few people 
write very many words. A number of investigations have 
been made which show that, in ordinary correspondence, 
only about a thousand different words are used. Some 
words are used a great deal, others are seldom used. Most 
words are used so seldom by most people that it is a waste 
of time and energy for them to be taught in the schools. 
Professor Pryor has made a study of a dozen or more of these 
lists and has picked out the words which have occurred 
most often in them. He has put all of these words into a 
list which he calls "A Minimal Spelling List." It is this 
list of words which we have been working on during the 
month which closed yesterday. There are twelve hundred 
and fifty-three words in the entire list — -beginning with 
words for the second grade and ending with words for the 
eighth grade. 

The month of work closed yesterday with a big Zone 
Spelling Match held at Marshfield. We have had the match 
as one of the goals of the month with which to motivate the 



SPELLING AND THE FORMING OF HABITS 247 

work. There have been other motivators, to be sure, but a 
spelling match in prospect is one of the best things with 
which to put "pep" into a youngster's work. He thinks 
that he is getting ready to compete with his fellows in a 
human contest but the teacher knows all the while that he 
is fixing a spelling habit which will go with him through life. 

The words in the list are arranged according to grades 
and every child is supposed to be able to spell all the words 
listed for his grade and the grades below it. As a matter of 
fact, many of the children learned to spell many of the words 
in the lists that were three years beyond them. They were 
not asked to do so but they did it. I have second-grade 
children who can spell practically all words up through 
the fifth grade list. It has been amusing to watch the 
children during the month — they have practically lived 
with their spelling lists. 

I am persuaded that the children have learned more 
about spelling during the past twenty days, that will 
really function in their lives, than they have in many 
times that amount of time, heretofore. You see they 
have had all of the conditions present and operating that 
were necessary to the formation of a habit. To begin with, 
there was great interest in the thing they were doing. 
Nothing can take the place of interest in the thing that is 
being made habitual. Then we, the teachers, have done 
our best to teach the spelling in an effective manner. We 
have tried to make strong, vivid, initial impressions when 
the words were new. We have tried to break up old habits 
of incorrect spelling and form new habits which would be 
strong and satisfying. The work has been so conducted 
that the children have had much repetition of each word 



248 



SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 



but with such variety that there was always attention on 
the part of the children to the elements involved. We have 
never permitted an exception to occur in the correct spelling 
of a word, if it was possible to prevent it. We have em- 
phasized these features so consistently that even children in 
the second grade can tell you as v/ell as I can just what is 
necessary to form a good habit in spelling, and probably 




THE GOPHER-KILLING CAMPAIGN 



even better than I have in the preceding discussion of that 
subject. 

Mr. Moore brought with him on his visit this week the 
county agricultural agent. The agent wanted to present 
to the people the necessity of and the means for killing the 
gophers which are about to take the county. "They will 
get us if we do not get them first, " says Mr. Goodman. 

After he saw the interest that the people took last month 
in the "Health and Happiness Campaign," Mr. Moore 
decided to put on during this month a "Gopher-Killing 
Campaign" in connection with a series of small spelling 
matches. So, each night during the week, he and Mr. 
Goodman held a meeting at a schoolhouse centrally lo- 



SPELLING AND THE FORMING OF HABITS 249 

cated to which came the people from three or more 
schools. The children came together to have a preliminary- 
match to get in trim for the final match which was held 
yesterday. The adults came to witness the spelling and 
hear about the plan to kill the gophers. 

The meeting started promptly at eight o'clock with 
community singing of patriotic and rural songs. Mr. 
Goodman's talk was brief, businesslike, to the point, and 
provocative of immediate, sensible and cooperative ac- 
tion. The spelling bee was brief but productive of big 
enthusiasm for the Marshfield match. Enthusiasm, you 
know, is a cumulative thing^f it is properly cultivated. 
Fuel must be added to the flame at appi opriate times and 
in proper amounts. These little matches were just the thing 
to fan the spark of enthusiasm into a flame for the big 
meeting held yesterday. 

The real event of the year, the one which brought to a 
close Mr. Moore's supervisory work, as such, came yester- 
day. It was a fitting conclusion. Every school was present 
in full force when the written contest between the children 
in the third, fourth and fifth grades began. Mr. Moore 
believes in contests in school work. He thinks that in- 
dividual contests should be a very minor part but that 
group contests are very wholesome. In group contests, 
the stronger individual works not so much that he, in- 
dividually, may win, but that his group may win. Better 
still, the stronger members of the group are impelled to help, 
boost, train, discipline the weaker and less self-reliant and 
less self -controlled members of the group. 

In order to accomplish this result, Mr. Moore divided 
the schools of the zone into two groups. All east of the 



250 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

railroad constituted the Blues, all west of it were the 
Whites. Each child appeared at the match with his colors 
indicated by a band around his left arm. The children 
entered the written and oral contests, with a spirit of 
group loyalty, of self-control, of respect for a worthy rival 
that would have done honor to a well-disciplined army of 
any nation. They were not wishing for anyone's defeat, 
they were wishing only for their own victory. They wanted 
their rivals to do well — very, very well, otherwise they 
would think their own victory cheap and meaningless. 

The contests were over at noon. The averages of the 
two groups for the written contests differed less than one 
per cent and the oral contests were, in their way, equally 
close. This showed that the ability, the interest, and the 
application of the children in the two groups of schools 
had been about alike and, judging from my own school, 
the interest and application must have been very keen. 

The noon hour was a delightful one in which people met 
who, through the Zone Pacemaker, had been hearing of 
each other all of the year. They joked about their defeats 
and their victories. They talked about how the work had 
differed this year from the work of previous years. They 
gathered in little groups to make plans for the future and 
to express regrets that Mr. Moore is not going to continue 
in the work next year because he is going back to the 
University. 

The afternoon session was something in the nature of 
a love feast. Mr. Moore had a number of prominent 
educators present who brought greetings and good wishes 
for the schools. Each of the schools had brief farewell 
programs. 



SPELLING AND THE FORMING OF HABITS 25 1 

The most touching part of the program was that in which 
the children, patrons, and teachers expressed to Mr. Moore 
their appreciation for his service during the year. It 
was not a very lengthy or wordy ceremony but enough, per- 
haps, to make it possible for him to know now and re- 
member throughout his life, that he is appreciated and 
loved by the people with whom he has been associated. 

The meeting closed with "glad to have met you" and 
"come to see us again" and a hundred evidences of a new 
social outlook, a broadened educational vision, and a finer 
sense of social solidarity than we have ever had in this end 
of our county before. 

I came home last night feeling that it is a great thing 
to create in people the correct habits of spelling, writing, 
and doing arithmetic, but that it is a much bigger thing, 
if at the same time, we can form correct habits of thinking 
and feeling about the great fundamental relations with 
people. After all, that is the big job for us teachers. 

In habit-forming mood, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Martha seems determined to impress me with the importance 
of forming correct habits. Is there any difference in the way cor- 
rect and incorrect habits are formed? Are the principles the same 
for the formation of habits of correct spelling, writing, and speaking 
as for skating, dancing and driving a car? What is the difference? 
Can I state what the principles are, upon which a habit is con- 
sciously formed? 

2. What are some of the spelling investigations with which I, 
as an elementary teacher, should be familiar? What are the prin- 
ciples that determine what words should be learned by the children 
of the elementary grades? 



252 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

3. To what extent are spelling matches justifiable? How should 
they be conducted to be most helpful? What are some of the pos- 
sible dangers of spelling matches? How may those dangers be 
avoided? 

4. May the principles upon which the spelling match is based 
be applied to other subjects? To which subjects most easily? To 
which is it most difficult? 

5. Mr. Moore had the county agent talk at the small spelling 
matches about killing gophers. That seems to me a bit incongruous. 
To what extent is it feasible to introduce other interests at the time 
of such a meeting? How would he justify his action in this case? 

6. What does a faithful public servant most appreciate from 
those whom he has served? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

How to Teach — Strayer and Norsworthy. Chapter IV. 
Eighteenth Year Book — Spelling — Horn. Part 11. National So- 
ciety for the Study of Education. 
A Guide to the Teaching of Spelling — Pryor and Pittman. 
The Tea^.hing of Spelling — Tidyman. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

MARTHA TELLS OF THE NEWSPAPER — The Zofie Pacemaker 

April 25 
Dear Hilda: 

Some time ago I promised you that I would write you 
about our little newspaper — The Zone Pacemaker. As I 
have said before, it is Mr. Moore's belief and contention 
that if school people expect the general public to support 
their policies, they must be sure that the public knows what 
those policies are. For this reason he says that a school 
newspaper is practically necessary. That is the way that 
other institutions get their programs for development before 
the public. Why not the school also? Every factory to-day 
has a newspaper for its employees. Even the hotels get out 
little weekly papers telling about the employees and the 
guests. This makes the cook, the fireman, and the chamber- 
maid feel that they are really in the big game of life when 
they see their names on the same pages, perhaps, with the 
name of the president who, perchance, is a guest at the 
hotel. 

So convinced was Mr. Moore of the wisdom of such a 
plan that he decided at the beginning of the year that the 
Demonstration Zone should have a paper. One of the first 
and most important questions that confront anyone who 
has determined to establish a paper is to find a suitable 
name for it. The name is supposed to suggest the general 
purpose and spirit of the paper. We see this idea carried 

Successful T.— 17 253 



254 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

out by such names as The Times — Tlie Sun — The Globe — 
The World — The Courier and The Tribune. Among papers 
established for children, we have such names as The 
Messenger — The Visitor and The Children's Herald. 

Mr. Moore said that he had a good deal of difficulty in 
finding a name which was satisfactory. He did not want to 
call it by a name which might have been used by a hundred 
other papers. He wanted it to mean something to this 
particular group of children. He said that he would like 
to have had the children themselves name the paper but 
since the circumstances did not make that possible, he 
chose a name which he thought would appeal to them. 
From the title you can see what he hoped it to be — the 
pacemaker for the zone. As I look back over the work of 
the year, I can see that it has fulfilled that hope. 

Doubtless, Mr. Moore hoped that it would influence the 
teachers and parents of the zone, but his chief purpose was 
to influence the children. He has tried to have them feel 
that it was their paper. While the paper has set up stand- 
ards for the children, told about the teachers' meetings and 
published items of interest to the parents, it has always con- 
tained a Contributors' Section in which the children 
themselves told what they were doing or anything else of 
interest to them. 

Every four weeks the paper has appeared. At the top 
of the page was the title and the subject emphasized 
for the month and the one to be emphasized for the 
next month. To the left appeared for whom it was pub- 
lished and to the right a few suggestive questions for 
the stimulation of the children. The following will give 
you the idea: 



The Zone Pacemaker 255 



'^^^^~^^^^"™' How fast can you 

Published every four NOW read silently? 

weeks for the plea J^^^ ^^^^^ PaCemuker ""^olV^e^dS^"^ 

sure and benefit of How FULLY do you 

the boys and girls of The Reading-Language Number get the thought? 

the Helping-Teacher ^ ^ ^ ^^''^^nT'"?" 

, common errors in 

Demonstration Zone, speech? 

Gem County. NOVEMBER 17-22 GET them THIS 



month. 



The paper has grown larger, more interesting, and more 
helpful with each succeeding issue. Perhaps I cannot pre- 
sent the plan, the character, and the purpose of it in a better 
way than to quote the first two paragraphs of the first 
issue : 

How do you do, boys and girls? I am your newspaper. My 
name is The Zone Pacemaker. That is just what I hope to be 
during this year — a real pacemaker, for every boy and girl in the 
Demonstration Helping-Teacher Zone. I shall try to tell you each 
month the interesting things that are being done by the boys and 
girls in the fifteen schools that form the "Zone," as the territory 
will be called. Those fifteen schools are located around Warren, 
in the south end of Gem County. Each of you will know very soon 
the names of all of the children in all of these schools. I shall publish 
all of their names and tell to what school they belong. You wiU 
probably meet all of them at some meeting before the year ends. 

I am wondering if you will be glad to see me each month. I 
shall tell you how well the boys and girls read, write, spell, speak, 
and do arithmetic. By means of those Standard Tests which you 
took this week, you will be able to know how well you can do NOW 
in each of those subjects. By means of some tests which you will 
take next May, you will be able to know how much you have grown 
in each subject during the year. I shall tell you next month how 
YOUR school compares NOW with all of the other schools and then 
you can see how hard you will have to work in order to catch up 
with and keep up with the best. Which school of the fifteen will 
make the greatest improvement in all of these subjects during the 
year? That is the game, you see. Which school will have the neat- 
est school building and grounds? Which will have the best school- 



256 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

room order? Which will have the best community spirit? Which 
will be happiest and do the most to make others happy? Well, 
we shall see and I shall tell each month just what everybody is 
doing and how your friends and rivals are getting on. Mr. Moore 
is my editor and he will visit you each month and see you work 
and help you play. He will keep his eyes and ears open and his 
notebook close at hand when he visits you, and the good things that 
he sees I shall tell about in the next issue. You must do your best 
therefore, not just when he is present but ALL the time for he will 
be able to know when you are natural and when you are not. Hard 
work and fair play make happy boys and girls every day. 

These two paragraphs show the purpose and the ideals 
which the Pacemaker has exempHfied throughout the year. 
Each month it has come with a spirit that was joyous, 
a message that was encouraging, and an ideal which set a 
standard for accomplishment. It has presented facts 
and purposes that were most serious, but it has done so in a 
manner that was light and understandable by the youngest 
schoolchild and by the most illiterate parent. 

One month it took for its purpose the cultivation of an 
ideal for schoolroom attractiveness. To do so, it told, in the 
form of news-stories (written by the children in the various 
schools), of the new graphophone that one school had, the 
fine copies of beautifully-framed masterpieces of art that 
another had, the well-kept outbuildings of another, the 
excellent adjustable desks of another, the beautiful flag 
and flagpole of another, the well-selected and well- 
arranged hbrary of another, the oil stove used for hot lunch 
of another. So complete was the composite school that was 
built up by the truthful news-stories that every child, 
teacher, and patron would naturally say to himself — "Why 
not have afl of these things in OUR school?" 



The Zone Pacemaker 257 

For another month the paper featured classroom prac- 
tices: the good singing of one school, the orderliness 
with which children passed to and from recitations, to and 
from the schoolroom, about their schoolroom duties — the 
way the reading in one school was done, the high points 
of the penmanship work of another, and the snappy- 
features of the spelhng classes in another. The net result 
of it all was to make every child want to do all of his 
work just as well as the best of those described did their 
work. The ambition of each pupil was for his school to 
receive recognition. 

In a previous letter, I have referred to Mr. Moore's 
theory of securing improvement by suggestion. I have 
spoken of him as the "supervisor" but he prefers to be 
thought of as the "helping-teacher." He says that the 
psychological effect of the term "supervisor" is bad — 
that it suggests superiority, authority, criticism, while the 
psychological effect of the word "helping- teacher" is very 
different. It suggests equality, appreciation, assistance. 
All of his work has been done in keeping with this distinc- 
tion. He never talks about faults, mistakes, failures, but 
he is constantly praising somebody's strong points, telling 
of somebody's success and accompHshments. Do you see 
the distinction and appreciate the difference in the effect 
upon the children, the teachers, and the people? What 
he does is just what you used to do, Hilda. I remember 
if I failed to put salt in the cabbage, you would conceal 
the fact from the men and save and salve my feelings 
by talking a blue streak about how good the beans and 
the bread were. You would say they were seasoned to 
a queen's taste. 



258 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

There have been plenty, plenty of faults in the classroom 
methods and schoolroom situations of these fifteen schools 
this year but never a word have we heard of it. What we 
have heard about was the very best and strongest elements 
of each teacher and each school. Consequently, our daily 
prayer and yearning has been : " O Lord, let us be as worthy 
as they. Let us grow beautiful." Do you see that ours has 
been a religion of optimism, of "striving for the mark of 
the high calling?" This is far better than a religion of 
Pharisaical pride or of Puritanical dread and fear. 

Not only has the Pacemaker told of the things that 
related to the teachers, children, buildings and ground, but 
it has told of the social life of the communities. Mr. 
Moore has visited with the people as he has performed his 
work. He says that he can build more schoolhouses, 
vote more taxes, and increase the salaries of more teachers 
by helping a farmer feed his Shorthorn cattle, or by listen- 
ing to th*^ story of his special variety of wheat, than he can 
by making a two-hour speech at the schoolhouse and filling 
the blackboard seven times with figures of indisputable 
facts. He also says that he can produce orderly conduct 
in school on the part of a school board member's son more 
quickly by using a knife and a fork on the fried chicken and 
cream cake pridefully prepared by the school board mem- 
ber's wife, than he can by advising the teacher to apply 
a shillalah to the school board member's prideful son. 

In other words, he says, get the confidence of the parent 
and through him inspire his son to worthy endeavor. Do 
this by friendly visits in the home. He believes if this is 
done, the problems of the school will largely disappear, in 
so far as discipline is concerned. 



The Zone Pacemaker 259 

You will understand how strong must be the friendships 
that he has formed with these people and how effective 
must be his influence for better things, when I tell you that 
Mr. Moore has already eaten a meal or spent the night with 
more than half of all the families in the zone. His visits did 
not end with the visits themselves. The next issue of the 
Pacemaker gave fitting mention of them and in such a way 
that the families visited were pleased and other families 
were inspired to similar generous hospitality. This has 
raised the social tone of our section of the county. It has 
made the entertainment of guests a privilege that is sought 
rather than a chore that must be endured, or a business 
proposition by which entertainment is bought and sold. 

The Pacemaker has been as effective in stimulating 
group social action as it has been in stimulating private 
hospitality. It has done this by describing the various 
affairs of an educational and social nature held in each 
community and by pointing out the good features of 
them in an interesting, chatty fashion. 

The whole world is more or less vain, I believe. We all 
like to be appreciated for the things we do which are worth 
while. Country people are no exception to the rule. They 
are human and have the instincts common to the rest of 
mortals. I believe that one of the reasons why so many 
young people go to town is that they feel that in the town 
is a larger opportunity to be appreciated. What they do 
that is worth while will be told about in the paper. Don't 
you see, therefore, that if we had enough papers of the Pace- 
maker sort to cover the rural districts and tell of the big 
things which the rural people do, it would probably satisfy 
their instinctive craving for recognition and appreciation 



260 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

on the part of others, and cause them to do their big work 
where they are, instead of leading them off to town to seek 
and find their fame. 

It has been interesting to see how the children and even 
the adults of the communities await — anxiously, even 
impatiently, sometimes — the coming of the Pacemaker. 
It is written especially for the children, but as a matter of 
fact, everybody — young and old — reads it. Nearly all of 
these people in this section of the county, Hilda, are Swedes 
and Germans. Most of them are foreign born and they 
speak English brokenly and read it with difficulty. In 
spite of that, as Miss Fish told me last week, they all read 
EVERY WORD of the Pacemaker. They read more 
English when they read it each month than they do in all of 
their other reading put together. So you see that in addi- 
tion to the purposes that the paper was designed to ac- 
complish, it is also doing a real service in the Americaniza- 
tion of our foreign born. If I am any judge, it is American- 
izing some of the old-line Americans also. I think I can 
see a vast change in the attitude of John Brown and Sam 
Jones since they have been reading it for a few months. You 
see, Hilda, there is a great danger that we who have never 
known anything else but America will not be able to ap- 
preciate it and our duty to it as fully as do those who have 
known other and less lovely lands. 

This little paper has rendered various services. The 
principal one for which it was created, I have not dis- 
cussed — that is, to improve the quality of the regular school 
work of the children. 

In the two paragraphs quoted in the beginning of this 
letter, that purpose was evident. That purpose has also 



The Zone Pacemaker 261 

been evident in every issue of the paper. While other 
phases have been given a place, the central theme was al- 
ways the regular work of the school. 

The children were informed in the second issue of the 
year of the exact standing of every child in thirteen school 
functions as determined by the Standard Tests. The 
standards which the children should attain by the end of the 
year were also given. So clear was this made to the children 
that every child in the zone has known all of the year 
just how much he must advance in each function in order 
to be up to the standard. It has been very amusing to hear 
a little third-grade child talk about how far he was below the 
median of his class, how much he had to improve in speed 
or quality in order to be up to the standard for his grade, 
or how much he would have to improve in order to be up to 
where the best in his group was at the time of the last test. 

This emphasis of the school work was a feature of the 
paper which I questioned very much at the beginning of 
the year, as a source of genuine news interest to the children. 
I thought that the teachers and a few of the parents might 
be interested in it but I doubted that the children would be. 
The year has proved that my doubts were not well founded, 
for the children have been interested most of all in the school 
work itself. Social items have been read with interest by 
them, but the data about the class work and subject rating 
of the children in the schools have literally been studied. 
Many of these children can tell you not only their own rat- 
ing in the different subjects, but also that of a number of 
their grade group. 

I am now convinced that the little paper is one of the 
most effective agencies of supervision that Mr. Moore is 



262 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

using. It is doing what neither he nor the teachers could do. 
It is getting the details of the school work before the 
children and their parents in a way that is having real 
effect. These papers are sometimes read half a dozen times 
in one family. The statements made in them are discussed 
and even disputed sometimes. In this way, much more is 
done by way of taking the children and their parents into 
partnership with the teachers and the helping-teacher for 
the accomplishment of the things which they are trying to 
do, than could be done, possibly, in any other way. 

Not only has the Pacemaker aided by its own direct 
influence but it has stimulated other newspapers for the 
individual schools. Practically every school of the zone has 
its own newspaper. The school papers are the inspiration 
for much effort in written expression. Copies of all of the 
papers were sent to the Pacemaker where the items of 
general interest were collected and published for the 
benefit of the entire zone. 

I wish I had time to tell you of the humorous supplement 
of the Pacemaker, but I have written too much already. 
It was humorous in form but serious in purpose and in- 
tended for the help of the boys and girls and men and 
women of the Demonstration Zone. 

Mr. Moore says that a supervisor should be a helping- 
teacher, a pacemaker in school work and community en- 
deavor, but I say, and I can get plenty of backing, that a 
supervisor should be a JOY MAKER. If the supervisor 
can be a real joy maker, there is no questioning his abihty 
to earn his salary. If he can make the children really happy, 
if he can give the teachers a joyous outlook on life, if he can 
cause old, settled, serious men and women to get an op- 



The Zone Pacemaker 263 

timistic view of things current and things yet to be, he will 
certainly be producing the world's most needed lubricant 
for its human machines of labor. There is no doubting the 
possibility of measuring the results of his work by the 
products of human action. 

I have a new resolution for life, Hilda, and that is that I 
also shall be a JOY MAKER. It may be for a small area, 
but I shall do my best to make that little spot particularly 
joyous. Yes, I'll help the other fellow to see the better side. 

Joyously, 

Martha 



HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. A newspaper for the country schools ! That is unusual. Why 
have we not done that before? Do we not all enjoy seeing our own 
names in print? How strong is the instinct of desiring the approval 
of others? 

2. Mr. Moore seems to have been chiefly concerned in appealing 
to and interesting the children. Is this the usual practice in the 
supervision of schools? What would be the difference in the effect 
of supervision under this plan from that in which all of the appeal is 
made to and responsibility placed upon the teachers? 

3. "What's in a name?" says Shakespeare. Here comes Mr, 
Moore saying that "supervisor" suggests autocracy while "helping- 
teacher" suggests democracy. If a name is of importance in a 
school paper, is it important in a school officer? 

4. What is the difference in the effect upon the schools of con- 
demning the bad and of praising the good? How may the bad be 
eliminated? Should teachers, children, and parents become con- 
scious of the limitations of the schools? Why not attack them 
directly? What are "pharisaical pride" and "puritanical dread 
and fear" in the school work? Do I know of any illustrations of 
these? 



264 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

5. Mr. Moore seems to think that the friendly visit in the 
homes of the people is one of the best agencies of supervision. Is it 
true that people are influenced more by their feelings than they 
are by "cold facts"? Isthecultivationof hospitality a worthy educa- 
tional aim? 

6. Martha thinks that the little newspaper has been an agency 
for Americanization. It did not state that as one of its purposes. 
It contained no articles dealing with that subject. How, then, does 
she draw such a conclusion? 

7. I always thought that the details of a survey were to be kept 
secret so that no one's feelings might be wounded and no child or 
teacher disgraced. Here Mr. Moore publishes the grade of every 
child and the standing of every school. What would be the effect 
of such an act? Wovdd the attitude of the public depend upon the 
showing of the facts or upon the purpose to which they were put? 

8. Is it true that the dry facts of the regular school work can be 
made the items of greatest news interest to children? 

9. What should be the services of a supervisor or helping-teacher 
to a community? Coiild I list them? Which are the primary ser- 
vices? The secondary? What are the qualities that would add most 
to the effectiveness of such an official? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

A Brief Course in The Teaching Process — Strayer. Chapter II. 
The Supervision of Instruction — Nutt. Chapter II. 
Country Life and the Country School — Carney. Chapter XII. 
Our Public Schools — Corson. Chapters XIX, XX. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 

May 21 

Dear Hilda: 

For the first time since I have been teaching, I am able to 
know definitely just what I have succeeded in doing with 
my children in certain school subjects. I also know how my 
work compares in those particulars with the work of other 
teachers with whom I am acquainted and who are working 
under similar conditions. Why haven't we been able to 
know this before? We have been teaching as the farmers 
have been farming — on a guessing basis. 

The war was productive of many scientific benefits. We 
found out about our health, about our education, about 
our population of foreign extraction, and about many 
other things from which we should be and are profiting. 
But no one class profited more, I think, from the war- 
enforced legislation and investigation than did the farmers. 
In my judgment, the most distinct benefit that the war 
rendered them was the legislation which made it necessary 
to keep books in order that they might see where they 
started in with their business, and where they came out 
with it, and how much profit or loss they had. 

We teachers need to have some law passed to force us to do 
the same thing in connection with our work. Say, wouldn't 
it be a fine reform in education if we were paid for it by 
ttie work, accomplished instead of by the time we devoted to 

265 



266 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

it? If we were paid a certain sum of money, not for so 
many hours or days of work, but for a definite result per 
child in arithmetic, reading, language, penmanship, and 
spelling, I believe we would see a new interest on the part 
of teachers in better methods of teaching and in pupil 
progress. We would not be averse to learning a new method 
if it made it possible to earn more money thereby. We can 
earn more now by a new and better method, but since it is 
not measured, we are content to take what our contract 
calls for, and to be indifferent as to whether or not we have 
earned it. 

Too many of us are teaching to-day for the salary and 
are hoping, incidentally, that educational results will fol- 
low. From what I have learned from the study of the last 
issue of the Pacemaker, I believe we shall some day be as 
nearly able to forecast what a teacher should be able to 
do in a year as we can forecast to-day what a worker in 
any union factory should be able to do in eight hours. If 
such proves to be the case, I believe the results will be better 
for the teachers and certainly for the paying public. As 
it has been in the past, the teachers have been "hitting in 
the dark," and the public has been "buying a pig in a 
poke." 

At first thought, it may seem a rather low basis in 
education for a teacher to give certain specified results for 
a certain cash consideration. But actually that would be 
far more fair to the payer and also to the payee than it is 
to-day. Now we have a known reward for an unknown ser- 
vice. We should have a definite reward for a definite ser- 
vice. It would make the public more fair and the teaching 
profession intellectually more honest. As it now is. the 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 267 

conscientious and efficient teachers are paid far less than 
they deserve and the ideal-less and inefficient teachers get 
far more than they are worth. 

There needs to be some definite and accurate method of 
showing to which class a teacher belongs. This should be 
done in some way so that the teacher herself can see it and 
so that the employing public may know it. I am con- 
vinced that there will soon be a method devised that can 
be applied with absolute freedom from the personal bias 
of anybody. 

Supervision, as I understand it, has in some places con- 
sisted, in the rather recent past, largely in standing a 
teacher alongside a score card and scoring her as the 
farmers do a beef cow; but these scores have all been 
personal opinion, not real measurement. It seems to me 
that the only way to measure a teacher is to measure the 
results of the teacher's work. Until we can do that, the 
value of a teacher is merely a matter of opinion. 

The public has been trying to find a way of rating 
teachers for a long time. It now uses the certificate scheme 
almost entirely. While that is far better than nothing, it 
is notorious for its failure. What the public is really in- 
terested in is not whether the teacher holds a first, second 
or third grade certificate ; whether the teacher is a graduate 
of the eighth grade, the high school, the normal school, or 
the college; whether the teacher has an A.B., an A.M., or 
a Ph.D. degree. What the public is really interested in is 
what the teacher can do in the teaching of children. The 
public is interested in certification, graduation, and de- 
grees only because it believes that on the one hand, there 
is a close relation, a high degree of correlation between the 



268 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

quality of the certificate, the type of a school from which the 
teacher has graduated, the kind of degree that the teacher 
holds, and on the other, the character of the teaching which 
the teacher will do. 

Taken on the average, those are, no doubt, wise means 
by which to forecast results and on which to base salaries 
and salary schedules. I am convinced, though, that there 
might be a better way if we but had the knowledge of how 
to arrange it. Soon someone will solve the problem by 
inventing some tests and scales by which to measure 
a teacher with just as much precision as we can to-day 
measure the value of a hog or a cow, a carload of wheat 
or a ton of coal. 

Speaking of this matter of measurement in this definite 
way reminds me of a conversation which I heard recently 
between Mr. Worthy and Mr. Moore on the subject of 
breeds of hogs and intelligence of children. Mr. Moore was 
spending the night at the Worthy home and as usual 
the after-supper hours were spent in rather animated con- 
versation. The subject of hogs was the beginning topic and 
the conversation ran about as follows : 

''I notice, Mr. Worthy, that you have the Poland China 
hogs; just why do you prefer them?" said Mr. Moore. 

"Well, Mr. Moore," said Mr. Worthy, "it's like this. 
You must pick your breed of hogs according to the purpose 
you want them to serve. In the old days, when people had 
little to feed hogs, when there were lots of acorns and other 
wild food on the range, there was no hog so good as the wild 
hog. He would take care of himself. Time counted for 
little with him or with those who killed him. There was no 
market for meat in those days. So, people just waited until 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 



269 



the hogs were grown and fat, and killed them then accord- 
ing to their own family needs. 

"When the people and markets became more plentiful, 
range more limited, time more valuable, the wild hog, or 
the razorback, became unsuited. It takes four years for 
him to get grown. Close attention and good feed will 




MR. MOORE AND MR. WORTHY DISCUSS HOGS AND CHILDREN 



make little difference. He never will become very large or 
very fat. He is too expensive for civilization. They are so 
expensive, in fact, that I think they should not be allowed 
to exist. We should have laws making it a crime to raise 
them. 

"Now, I have a neighbor, Mr. Gould, who makes a 
specialty of growing breakfast bacon for the company which 
specialized on the Peanut Breakfast Bacon. He raises the 
Hampshire hog for that purpose. He thinks it makes the 

Successful T— 18 



270 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

best bacon. It has long legs, thin body and is a good 
rustler. It matures at about the age of fifteen months. 

"My purpose is entirely different. My purpose is to 
produce fat and do it as quickly and cheaply as possible. 
The younger a hog is that will weigh three hundred pounds, 
the greater the profit in fat-production. I can get my 
Poland Chinas to reach three hundred by the time they are 
seven months of age. The Poland China is a hog that will 
respond to care and treatment. He will take a college edu- 
cation, I suppose you might say. Some hogs will not take a 
college education, it makes no difference how expert the 
teacher or how remarkable the course of study. 

"I would be willing to make a rule of this kind for hog 
raising. I would say that a hog that weighs 200 pounds 
at eight months of age is a good average hog — such 
as the Hampshires, we'll say. If a hog will weigh 300 by 
the time he is that age, he is fifty per cent above the 
average. That is, taking 200 as the base or the denominator 
of our fraction, such a hog would rate at 150%. Now, if 
we take hogs below 200 pounds, their value decreases very 
rapidly. A hog that weighs 150 at eight months is just a 
75% hog and one that weighs only 100 pounds is only a 
50% hog. I do not believe there should be any such 
hogs. These are the fellows against which I want to legislate. 
This is the razorback class." 

"Your explanation is very interesting and it appears 
sound," said Mr. Moore. "I am sure also that you can see 
the relation between the hog business and the school 
business." 

"Yes, the wonder to me is that you school folks have not 
been as keen as we farmers have," rejoined Mr. Worthy. 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 27 1 

"You seem to have thought you couldn't learn anything 
from a hog-raiser. I have often wondered why you school 
folks have not been able to distinguish between your 
different kinds of children just as we farmers have between 
the different breeds of hogs. Why can't you folks find 
out the different kinds of brains and what they are good 
for just as we farmers have discovered the different kinds 
of hogs and what they are good for?" 

"Now that you speak of it, Mr. Worthy, I may tell you 
that that is just what we are beginning to be able to do. 
We had to watch you farmers, who were working along 
scientific lines, for a very long time before we were able to 
do it. But through the work of a number of men, especially 
through the work of three, we are able to do just the thing 
about which you talk. 

"A number of years ago there was a man in France 
who went to work on this problem. His name was Binet. 
He devised certain tests whereby he was able to measure 
how capable a person was, that is,howmuch intelligence he 
had. This was not a test of how much one knew but it 
was rather a test of how much he was capable of knowing. 
Some years after that, another man out in Cahfornia by 
the name of Terman improved those tests so that it has 
become a relatively easy matter to tell how intelligent a 
child is. The amount of intelhgence or ability that a child 
has is expressed by a term which they call his Intelligence 
Quotient. These Intelligence Quotients range from zero, 
which would represent a perfect idiot, up to about 150, 
which would represent a real genius. The average person 
ranges about 100. As the intelligence runs below 100, 
the power of a child to learn becomes less, and as it 



n 



272 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

runs above 100, everything else being equal, it becomes 
more." 

"Yes, yes, I see that, Mr. Moore," interrupted Mr. 
Worthy. "I can see from that scheme you would be able to 
tell whether a child's mind belongs to the razorback, the 
Hampshire, or the Poland China class." 

"Exactly, Mr. Worthy. That is just the point. If we 
know the real ability of a child, it we know the amount of 
intelligence of a child, we know what to expect of him and 
something of how to deal with him." 

"Yes, yes, Mr. Moore, of course you do, but let me in- 
terrupt you long enough to ask if you can see any relation 
between the different kinds of brains; I mean the intel- 
ligence which children have and that which their parents 
have." 

"To be sure we can, Mr. Worthy" replied Mr. Moore. 
"There is a very striking and direct relation. The children 
of very intelligent parents are nearly always intelligent and 
the children of very unintelligent parents, are nearly al- 
ways very unintelligent." 

"Is there any place down at the end of the line where 
you would be willing to apply the same rule to the un- 
intelligent people that I would apply to the unprofitable 
razorback?" asked Mr. Worthy. 

"That is one of the most important questions before 
society now, Mr. Worthy. We must decide at what point 
in intelligence it becomes a crime for people to reproduce 
their kind. You have said that a razorback hog is too ex- 
pensive for civilization. It takes him too long to get 
grown. When he is grown, he is not very large and cannot 
be made to take on much fat. Good food and good society 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 273 

will not change him. That is exactly the situation with a 
very unintelHgent person. If he has an Intelligence Quotient 
less than 80, he will never grow very large mentally, and 
much education and good society will never be able to 
change him greatly. The question is : ^ I s he too expensive 
for civilization?' 

"The average person is like your Hampshire hog. He 
is a good rustler. There is nothing flashy about him. He 
is made up of a streak of fat and a streak of lean. By hard 
work and sufficient years he will finally mature. He will 
never do anything startling, but he is good and reliable 
and will do the bulk of the work of the world. 

"There are, though, some few people, like your Poland 
China hogs, who have great possibilities. If given the right 
sort of attention they will reach great heights even while 
very young. If they are constantly kept provided with the 
right mental food they will become very great indeed when 
they are fully grown. The purpose of these tests, you see, 
is to locate each of these types so that we may know how and 
when to supply the mental food and what to expect as a 
result. 

"The third man who has aided us in knowing how to deal 
with these people is a young man of Iowa by the name of 
Franzen. He has worked out some plans so that we may be 
able to tell when each person is doing his best. You know 
what to expect of a razorback, a Hampshire, and a Poland 
China at each period of his life in the way of weight. 
From Mr. Franzen's work we are able to know what a 
child with an intelligence of 80, 100, 120 or 150 is able to 
accomplish in a given period of time. This means that if 
we should have children in our schools of these different 



274 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

abilities (and there are such in every school) , we would not 
grade them all according to the same standard but each 
one according to his own ability, his own power to do. 
Each one, then, would be ranked, according to his effort 
in proportion to his ability and not according to what he did 
in comparison with the weakest or the strongest in his class." 

"Well, well, Mr. Moore, that looks to me like sense. I 
did not know that you school folks were working on any- 
thing like that. I always thought that you were trying to 
have every child do just what every other child does with- 
out reference to his ability. It always looked to me as 
if that sort of plan would bore the bright ones and dis- 
courage the dull ones. I can see, though, that such a plan 
as you have described, would not bore or discourage any- 
one but would make everyone work with all his might to 
keep up to his own standard." 

"Your statement is exactly the ideal toward which Mr. 
Franzen has been striving, Mr. Worthy. There is no doubt 
but that we have in our school work often made children 
bad by not giving them enough work to interest them. 
According to Mr. Franzen's plan of work, if we know what 
a child's ability, or Intelligence Quotient is, we are able to 
tell what his achievement, or his Accomplishment Quotient 
should be. If his ability is great, his achievement should be 
great; if his ability is less, his achievement should be less 
in proportion." 

That conversation, Hilda, was a revelation to me, some- 
what about hogs but especially about measurement. 
What will they measure next? I was extremely dubious 
about the whole matter of measurement last fall, but I am 
now ready to believe that anything that exists can be 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 275 

measured. When we can measure the intelligence of 
children and foretell what should be their achievement 
in the various school subjects in proportion to that in- 
telligence, I say when we can do that, I am prepared to be- 
lieve you can measure anything. 

Possibly you think I am insane — that too much think- 
ing hath made me mad. I think I can show you that I 
am not, though, by showing you what Mr. Moore has been 
worth this year in actual dollars and cents. I shall submit 
only the facts that have been measured, though he has 
perhaps done more good things which are not measured 
than he has which have been measured. 

To make the matter perfectly simple and clear, I shall 
take as an illustration the work of the fourth grade, only. 
Every child was tested on reading, language, spelling, arith- 
metic and penmanship. Thirteen different elements of 
these five subjects were tested and a grade given for each 
element. I shall give you the score for the middle child 
in the fourth grade for our zone for both September and 
May, so that you can see just how much that child im- 
proved during the year. Those that were above him im- 
proved more, of whom there were one half, and those below 
him improved less, of whom there were also one half. He 
was the middle one with an equal number on either side 
of him. Do you understand? 

Scores for the Middle CmLD est the Fourth Grade in the 
Demonstration Zone 

Sept. May DifFerence 

1. Number of words read per minute 86.2 160 73.8 

2. Number of questions answered in five 

minutes 18.8 36 17.2 



276 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

DifFer- 
Sept. May ence 

3. Degree of understanding (%) 76.3% 70% -6.3% 

4. Number of questions answered correctly in 

20 Minute Scale A.. 7.8 12.7 4.9 

5. Percentage of fifty words correctly spelled 22.5 50 27.5 

6. Quality of Composition measured on the 

Hillegas Scale i.i 1.9 .8 

7. Speed in Penmanship — Number of letters 

per minute 52.5 72 19.5 

8. Quality in writing (Ayres Scale) 36 .8 31 -5.8 

9. Number of examples correctly added ... . 13.7 33 19 -3 

10. Number of examples correctly subtracted 4.5 17 12.5 

11. Number of examples correctly multiplied 3.2 22 18.8 

12. Number of examples correctly divided .. . 5 14 9 

13. Number of examples in fractions correctly 

solved o 3 3 

The above table shov^^s the amount of improvement 
made by the middle child of the fourth-grade group. This 
means about the same as the average improvement of the 
group which was composed of all the fourth-grade children 
in the fifteen schools with which Mr. Moore has been work- 
ing. When you look at the amount of improvement — 
which is marked "Difference," you may conclude at once 
that the work of Mr. Moore, or of supervision, is profitable, 
and that it pays to have it. While your conclusions may 
be correct you would not have the proof of it in the fore- 
going statement of facts. Two questions must be answered 
satisfactorily before we know this. They are: 

1. Do all of the grades throughout the schools of the 
zone show the same degree of improvement? 

2. Do the children in this zone show greater improve- 
ment during the same period of time than do equally cap- 
able children in other schools that are similarly situated, 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 277 

with the one exception that they have not had a helping- 
teacher? 

If these two questions can be answered in the affirma- 
tive and if the degree of difference between the improve- 
ment of the two groups of children is great enough, then we 
can say that it does pay to have such a supervisory official 
at work with our rural schools. 

Fortunately, I can answer at once the first question in the 
affirmative. Every grade, beginning with the third and 
extending through the eighth, shows such phenomenal 
gain. I could submit the figures to prove it but it would 
make my letter too long. 

Now, as to the second question, you will be interested to 
know that Mr. Moore had some such question in mind 
from the beginning. He knew that he could not visit all 
the rural schools of America and do this sort of service for 
them by himself. He believes, though, that there should be 
somebody doing for every rural school and for every rural 
teacher what he has been trying to do with these fifteen 
schools in this Demonstration Zone. So, in order that he 
might be able to have some means of comparison to test 
the value of his work and, if it proved of sufficient 
benefit, to be able to convince others of the value of 
the service, he devised a method of obtaining the facts to 
submit to a practical, yea, even a skeptical world. He did 
this by testing a group of other schools in the north end of 
this county that were as nearly like ours as it was possible 
to find. He tested them at the same time that he tested ours 
in October. He did the same in May. He did not tell them 
that he had tested us, nor did he tell us that he had tested 
the other schools. We knew nothing about it until this 



278 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

week when we received our last issue of the Pace- 
maker. 

The children in those schools belong to the same national- 
ities that ours do — Germans, Scandinavians and English. 
The farmers are of about the same wealth. The only differ- 
ence that Mr. Moore could find was that the teachers in 
that group have had a little more training and experience 
than we have had. Their school terms are slightly longer. 
The differences, though, are so slight that it would probably 
make little difference in their favor. There is one conclu- 
sion however, which seems fairly well justified and that is 
that their schools have been better in the past than have 
ours. This is shown by the fact that their children did 
uniformly better in the September tests than did ours. 

The real value of Mr. Moore's work rests not upon where 
either group were, or are, but rather upon the amount of 
improvement that is shown during the year. In order to 
see this, we must see how much improvement was made by 
the middle child of the fourth grade in the group of schools 
with which ours is compared. I give it below: 



Scores of the Middle CmLD in the Fourth Grade in the 
Other Group 

Differ- 
Sept. May ence 

1. Number of words read per minute .... 112. 5 165 52.5 

2. Number of questiojis answered in 5 

minutes 21.6 34 . 8 13.2 

3. Degree of understanding (%) 79-5% 62.5%-i7% 

4. Number of questions answered cor- 

rectly in 20 Minute Scale A 7.9 10.7 2.8 

5. Percentage of 50 words correctly 

spelled 31.2 37.5 6.3 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 



279 



Differ- 
Sept. May ence 

6. Quality of Composition measured on 

the Hillegas Scale i.i 1.9 .8 

7. Speed in Penmanship — Number of 

letters per minute 54 . i 

8. Quality in writing (Ayres Scale) .35 -6 

9. Number of examples correctly added ... 15.8 

10. Number of examples correctly sub- 

tracted 6.9 8.6 1.7 

11. Number of examples correctly multi- 

plied 3 13 

12. Number of examples correctly divided . 2.7 8 

13. Number of examples in fractions cor- 

rectly solved o 



68.3 


14.2 


27.7 


-7-9 


23-5 


7-7 



10 
6.1 



Now in order that you may see how much more our group 
improved during the year than did the other group, let us 
subtract the amount that they improved from the amount 
that ours improved and the difference will tell the story. 
Here it is: 



Reading, number of words per minute . . 
Number of questions, answered in 5 min. . 

Degree of understanding 

Number of questions, answered correctly 
Percentage of words spelled correctly .... 
Quality of composition (Hillegas Scale) . . 

Speed in Penmanship 19 

Quality in Penmanship (Ayres Scale) . . . 
Number of examples correctly added .... 
Number of examples correctly subtracted 
Number of examples correctly multiplied 
Number of examples correctly divided . . . 
Number of examples correctly done in 
fractions 3 



Ours 


Others 


Differ- 
ence 


73 


.8 


52.5 


21.3 


17 


.2 


13.2 


4 


-6 


■3 


-17 


10.7 


4 


9 


2.8 


2.1 


27 


5 


6.3 


21 .2 




8 


.8 





19 


5 


14.2 


5-3 


-5 


8 


-7-9 


2.1 


19 


3 


7-7 


II. 6 


12 


5 


1-7 


10.8 


18 


8 


10 


8.8 


9 




6.1 


2.9 



28o SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

You can see from the above difference in the amounts of 
improvement that our group improved during the year 
nearly twice as much as did the children in the other group. 
Based upon these facts alone, we can say that the visits 
and help of Mr. Moore have practically doubled the amount 
of measurable results of the teachers' work during the year. 
I am sure that every teacher in the group and every parent 
in the communities will say that he has more than doubled 
the school pleasures of all who have been related to the 
schools. 

Now, to come right down to figures and make this con- 
crete, let us see what is the value of this work in dollars and 
cents. Mr. Moore devoted one week out of every four to 
his visits to these fifteen schools. He doubled their efficiency 
by actual reliable measurement. The fifteen teachers re- 
ceive, on an average, one hundred dollars per month or a 
monthly total of fifteen hundred for the entire group. If 
their work was worth this amount without supervision 
(that was what the school boards agreed to pay before they 
ever heard of Mr. Moore), it was worth twice this with the 
help which they received, for I have just shown that they 
did twice as much with the supervision as they would have 
done without it. Then the help which Mr. Moore gave was 
also worth fifteen hundred dollars per month. But that 
is not all of the story. 

Mr. Moore says that one supervisor, working under his 
plan, can supervise or help forty-five teachers per month 
just as he has helped us. That would mean that the service 
of the supervisor, when measured on the basis that I have 
used, would be worth forty-five hundred dollars per month, 
or $40,500 per school year, to the schools. Have I proved 



WHAT IS SUPERVISION WORTH? 



2»l 



my point? I think I have; I believe anyone can see it. 
If this is true, and I was never more convinced of anything 
in my life, isn't it an unwise business proposition to have 
teachers working without intelligent and scientific help? 

Since these facts and figures that I have quoted became 
public this week, the teachers, the school board members, 
and the patrons of the zone have held a meeting and 
decided to go before the county commissioners and show 
them the facts and demand for next year a regular, full-time 
helping-teacher for every forty-five teachers employed in 
the country schools of Gem County. I am one of a com- 
mittee of three to present the proposition to the com- 
missioners to-morrow. 

I have written you at such length for two reasons: 
first, because I am so enthusiastic about it all and I wanted 
you to know the results of our work for the year; and 
second, because I wanted to get my facts in hand and argu- 
ment in mind, so that to-morrow I can do the subject justice. 

In "fact and figure humor," I am 

As ever, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Are people of very low intelligence "too expensive for civili- 
zation"? Tliat is putting it in a new way. Is tliis plan of locating 
sucli people a practical plan? Is the public ready for the honest 
application of such a plan? Are we teachers wise enough and dis- 
creet enough to apply it in the public schools? Does our present 
organization of school work lend itself readily to the application of 
the Intelligence and Accomplishment Quotients? Why? 

2. Figures always did give me a headache, but those figures 
read somewhat like a novel. Do those figures he? They sound too 



252 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

good to be true. We have long since believed that supervision pays, 
but this is the first time I have seen it proved by mathematics. 

3. Granting, for the moment, that supervision does pay, may I 
ask under what conditions does it pay? What must be the personal 
qualities of the supervisor? How many teachers may there be? 
How few? What must be the travel conditions? How often must 
supervisors visit the schools? How often must group meetings of the 
teachers be held? How many teachers should be in one of the zones 
for the most effective work? What must be the supervisor's pro- 
fessional equipment? 

4. Would supervision be profitable only where untrained 
teachers were employed? Might trained teachers profit more from 
supervision than untrained teachers? Would a supervisor be more 
helpful where the course of study is rigid or where much liberty is 
allowed in the selection of subject matter? 

5. Martha seems to think that teachers should work by the 
job. What of the soundness of that contention? What has been 
the reaction of the business world — both labor and management — 
to that principle? Does it produce a higher type of intelligent 
effort? 

6. Martha is becoming more revolutionary as the year ad- 
vances. She is now about ready to advocate changing the standard 
upon which the employment and salaries of teachers are generally 
based — certificates and degrees. Is that sane? Would it be sane if 
we could really measure the results of teaching in some unbiased, 
impersonal and accurate manner? What are the deficiencies of the 
present system? 

7. If it is true (from the facts submitted, it certainly seems to be) 
that supervision doubles the purchasing power of every dollar that 
those farmers in Gem County invested in education, then what is 
the duty of the school officials of the counties of America? What 
have business enterprises found out about the value of super- 
vision? Is the public school a business enterprise? 

8. What is the difference between administration and super- 
vision? Should the supervisor undertake to attend to the adminis- 
trative phases of the schools? Why? 



what is supervision worth? 283 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

The Value of School Supervision — M. S. Pittman. Chapters I, IX. 
State and County Educational Reorganization — Cubberley. Chap- 
ters XII, XIV. 
Educational Administration and Supervision for 1920 — Dunn. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE POSITION SEEKS THE MAN 

May 22:. 

My dear Hilda: 

It was so easy it made me dizzy. The commissioners 
said that what we presented was just what they had long 
wanted to hear, see, know. They had long wanted to do 
just what we asked them to do, but did not have data of 




MARTHA PRESENTS HER FIGURES TO THE COMMISSIONERS 



sufficient reliability to justify such action. They are 
the business managers for the county, they said, and that 
whenever they appropriate money they must be able to 
show that it is in answer to a real demand of the people. 



THE POSITION SEEKS THE MAN 285 

It must be spent in such a way that they can, with facts, 
answer any critic who may swoop down upon them. 

When I presented my figures, it was dehghtful to see 
them melt. Mr. Joe Shuggarmann from the fifth ward 
was the first to speak out: "Sure! Sure! Gentlemen, haven't 
I been telling you that for the past five years?" "I don't 
think anybody could question its benefit after those fig- 
ures, " answered Ole Hanson, the member from Ward No. 2. 

They asked a few questions, chiefly about the demands of 
"the people" and then voted for the measure as we asked 
for it. They have authorized the employment by the county 
superintendent of four helping-teachers. We have one hun- 
dred and thirty teachers in one-, two-, and three-room 
schools. This will make it possible to have one helper for 
a little more than thirty teachers. Now just watch us hum ! 

The salary of the helping- teacher is to be not less than 
two thousand dollars and necessary expenses will be pro- 
vided up to five hundred dollars per year for each. The 
salary may be as much as three thousand dollars after one 
year of satisfactory service. This means, you can see, that 
Gem County is going into the school business. The com- 
missioners say that it is not what a thing costs but rather 
what it is worth that counts. They say they are not in- 
terested in sentiment or in politics, as such, but in educa- 
tional results, and for that reason they fix but two conditions 
under which we may have the helping- teachers: 

First: The supervisors must be efficient. 

Second: The results must be such as hard-headed business men 
can see and understand. 

Right here, Hilda, I must stop and do some sermonizing. 
It goes back to a statement that I have made before, viz., 

Successful T. — 19 



286 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

that if we school folks don't get what we need, it is because 
we have not used good horse sense, good psychology, and 
the agencies that are at our hands. We sometimes get ourselves 
into such a mood that we beheve the parents of our children 
do not care what happens to them, whether they learn or 
not. That is not true. They do care. They care a great 
deal. We think that they are primarily interested in cows 
and hogs, in crops and money, but they are not. They are 
really interested in their children. That is the reason they 
work so hard on other things. They are trying to provide 
the means with which to help their children. In their effort 
to provide, they get shunted into other channels. They 
sometimes become so much interested in the means, that 
they forget the real end for which they are striving. It is 
our task to help them keep their vision clear and their efforts 
wisely directed. 

There are other reasons for their apparent lack of interest. 
They are afraid of criticism. They are afraid that if they 
say very much or do very much in a public way, their 
neighbors may criticize, may say that they are trying to 
"run things," that they "think themselves very smart," 
or that they are trying to "get on the good side of the 
teacher." 

We teachers do not fully realize what bitter, insignificant 
things sometimes prevent even very excellent people from 
doing fine work as members of a community group. A 
man's chickens get into his neighbor's garden. He and his 
neighbor have words, and for years after refuse to cooperate 
in the task of making a better school — the hope of the future 
possibilities of their children. One member of a local 
school board owns a dog which is suspected of having 



THE POSITION SEEKS THE MAN 287 

killed a sheep belonging to another member. Ill-will is 
generated and educational and social progress in the 
community are made impossible until old age or an accident 
removes the dog or until the attention of the school 
directors is fixed upon bigger and better things. 

We school people must do that fixing. It is our oppor- 
tunity. It is our responsibihty. We are paid to do the 
greatest work in the world— help Httle boys and girls to grow 
into the best possible men and women. We must not let 
small things, such as interest in hogs or petty personal 
neighborhood differences, get in the way of our great work. 
We must have vision enough to see how to get around the 
obstructions, or find a way to remove them. 

We must beheve more strongly in the bigness of our work 
and in the inherent bigness of the people with whom we 
work. We must magnify the one and cultivate the other. 
This we do not always do. The fact is, I fear, that we do 
quite the other thing. 

See how we teachers have been complaining of the tight- 
fistedness of the county commissioners. They were not 
interested in schools, we have been saying, and a lot of 
other things of that nature. Now, see what has happened. 
The very first time that we put a big proposition up to them 
they came across in such magnificent fashion that it took 
our breath. 

The trouble with us teachers is that we think in too small 
sums and for too limited units. These county commis- 
sioners are all successful business men. Some of them, in- 
dividually, paid as much for income tax, alone, last year, 
as we asked for to-day to finance the whole educational 
supervisory program for the county. This has opened my 



288 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

eyes. Hereafter when I come to deal with business men, my 
one fear will be that I will make my figure so small that they 
will think my proposition of no importance. I have under- 
stood that an insurance man always talks to his prospect, 
of a policy that is three times as large as he thinks he can 
take — the prospect feels flattered thereby and takes a small 
one with apologies. We must use the same psychology in 
educational affairs — yes, once more, our old friend of getting 
results by suggestion. 

So, Hilda, Gem County is out in search of four super- 
men or superwomen to fill the positions of helping-teachers. 
If you see any walking around, please ship them to us, 
C. O. D., subject to our approval. These are the specifi- 
cations: 

1. He (or she) must have an abiding faith in humanity. 
He must believe that there is a giant in every human being 
and that what is needed is someone to awaken the giant 
and make him conscious of his great power. 

2. He must have a real love for country folks and must 
know that plain clothes, incorrect speech, and even crude 
social forms are no proof of lack of worth or the absence of 
power to make quick adjustments. 

3. He must believe in the future — the future of edu- 
cation, the future of his teachers, the future of his boys 
and girls, the future of the communities with which he 
works. He must look backward just enough to get inspira- 
tion and information with which to make the future great. 

4. He must have a physique that is rugged and capable 
of great endurance. 

5. He must have a dauntless will that will drive him 
through frigid weather, blinding snow storms and shifting 



THE POSITION SEEKS THE MAN 289 

snow banks, gumbo mud, public educational indifference, 
and the discouragements which come from contact with a 
few purposeless, unprofessional teachers. 

6. He must have a personality that radiates joy and 
sunshine and at the same time commands respect. 

7. He must have a scientific understanding of educa- 
tion so that he can intelligently lead his teachers and his 
pubhc. He must be able to guide their thoughts along lines 
which are theoretically sane and which lead to sound and 
valuable conclusions. 

8. He must be modest to the extent of being far more 
concerned about the success of his work than he is in his 
own personal glory. 

If you see any men or women in your land who bear these 
earmarks, know that they belong to us. 

We are not concerned with their ancestral origin, the 
political party with which they vote, or the church which 
they attend. What we are interested in is — a heart that 
beats nobly, a body that works efficiently, a brain that 
thinks clearly, and a will that drives surely. 

I'll meet you at the University summer school next week. 

Devotedly, 

Martha 

HILDA'S MEDITATIONS 

1. Those men were typical politicians. They had always wanted 
what the people now demand. Is that the right attitude for a 
public official to take? Should they lead or follow public opinion? 
How so? 

2. If the salary of regular teachers is one thousand dollars per year, 
is two thousand too little, enough, or too much for a helping- 



290 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

teacher (supervisor)? How much more experience and educational 
equipment should a helping-teacher have than the teachers with 
whom he works? 

3. Are those reasonable standards which the commissioners set 
for the helping-teachers? Can the results of supervision always be 
such that the business men could see and understand them? 

4. I wonder if teachers are too modest in their claims! Do small 
expectations and small demands pauperize their cause? 

5. I agree with Martha that Gem County is in need of some 
superior educators. Could such be had for two thousand per year? 
Can we grow such? Would big demands for such have any influence 
in creating them? Would more men enter the school work if the 
demand were sufficient, the outlook large, and the compensation 
larger than that obtainable for other work? 

6. Should political party, nationality, or church afi&liation be 
considered in the selection of a helping-teacher? What are the 
elements that should be considered? 

What Hilda Read in order to Answer 
Her Questions: 

The Supervision of Instruction — Nutt. Chapter XVI. 
The Value of School Supervision — M. S. Pittman. Chapters VIII 
and IX. 



INDEX 



Accomplishment Quotient, 274, 281. 

Agriculture, bottle exhibit, 206-209; 
cattle, 204, 205; Grain Graders' 
Association, 209; horses, 204; re- 
lation to spelling, 245; teaching of, 
200-213; wheat, 206-209, 212. 

Appreciation, of pictures, 59-63: 
of scenes near home, 62. 

Arithmetic, attention in, 150-151; 
mechanical, 149-150, 156; number 
games, 152, 157; speed in, 151-153, 

Arts or "skills," 57-58. 

Attention, 150-151, 180, 242, 245. 

Ayres scale, 276, 279. 

Backward children. 50. 

Bancroft: Games for the Play- 
ground, 236, 244. 

Band, village, 117-11S, 119. 

Bates, Katharine Lee: America, the 
Beautiful, 191. 

Bennett, H. H.: The Flag Goes By, 
191, 193-197- 

Binet Tests, 271-273. 

Bonser: The Elem.entary School 
Curriculum, 109, 148, 173. 

Bottle exhibit, 206-209. 

Carne)': Country Life and the Coun- 
try School, 173, 213, 222, 264. 

Cattle, 204, 205. 

"Caught List," 80. 

Certificates, teachers', 267, 268, 282. 

Charts, arithmetic, 151; hygiene, 
240, 244. 

Charters: Teaching the Common 
Branches, 45, 109, 173, 187, 213, 
244. 

291 



Chubb: The Teaching of English, 

199; Festivals and Plays, 233. 
Civics, definition of, 106; importance 

of local, 107; relation to history 

105, 106. 
Civics and history committee, report 

of, 91-109. 
Cleveland Survey Test, 156. 
"Columbus, the Pioneer," 94, 95. 
Community teamwork, 110-119, 

218-222. 
Composition, oral, 80-82; relation to 

oral reading, 185, 187; written, 

82, 83, 84. 
Consolidation of schools, 169-171; 

173- 
Contests, group, 249-250. 
Cook car, 12. 13, 17. 
Cook, pedagogical, 123-124, 129. 
Corson: Our Public Schools, 26, 

129, 148, 264. 
Country Life Commission, 14, 15, 16, 

201. 
County commissioners, 287. 
County Farm Bureau, 212, 213, 214, 

235- 

Courtis Reading Test, 28. 

"Crowd psychology," 223-224, 
232. 

Cubberley: Rural Life and Fduca- 
tion, 19; State and County Educa- 
tional Reorganization, 283. 

Current Opinion, at morning exer- 
cise, 55. 

Davies: Social Environment, 119. 
Deductive lesson, 86-87, 90, 164, 173. 
Democracy and Education, John 



292 



INDEX 



Dewey, principles contained in, 

135-137- _ 

Demonstration work, need of, in 
poor schools, 22; in poetry, 191- 
197; in silent reading, 36, 48; in 
oral reading, 182-185. 

Dewey, E.: New Schools for Old, 
129. 

Dewey, John : My Pedagogic Creed , 
i3°> 133) 146; Democracy and 
Education, 130, 133-136, 146, 147, 
148; principles contained in, 135- 

137- 
Difficulties, as incentive to work, 100. 
Discipline, 68-77. 
Dramatization, 94-95, 104. 
Dunn: Educational Administration 

and Supervision, 283. 

Failure, value of, 38, 44. 
Farnsworth : Plow to Study Music, 67. 
Folders, penmanship, 179. 
Food, charts and posters, 240; for 

the family, 238-240, 244. 
Franzen tests, 273-274. 

Galpin : Rural Life ,222. 

Games, 152, 236, 237, 238, 244. 

Geographical Facts, at morning ex- 
ercise, 56. 

Geography, fundamental facts of, 
161; in higher grades; 166-169; in 
lower grades, 159-161; in middle 
grades, 1 61-165; project method 
in, 159-169; secondary facts, 
161-162; teaching of, 158-173. 

Gillette: Constructive Rural Sociol- 
ogy, 119, 173. 

Goal importance of, 72, 75, 246. 

Gopher-killing campaign, 248, 252. 

Grain Graders' Association, 209. 

Grammar, technical, 84-88. 

Gray: Year Book — Reading, ,36, 45, 
187; Writing, 181. 



Habit, in arithmetic, 1 49-1 51; in 
hygiene, 241-244; in penmanship, 
176, 180; in spelling, 245-246, 251. 

Habit-forming, conditions, 245, 251. 

Haliburton and Smith: Teaching 
Poetry in the Grades, 199. 

Health Crusaders, 242. 

"Health and Happiness," 189, 
223-234, 243. 

Helping-teacher, qualities necessary 
in, 288-290; salary of, 285, 289- 
290; use of term, 257, 263, 285. 

Hillegas Scale, 276, 279. 

Historical facts, at morning exercise; 
55-56. 

History, teaching of, dramatization 
in, 94-95, 104, 105; in higher 
grades, 100-105, 108; in lower 
grades, 99-100, 104, 108; problem 
method in, 101-103; relation to 
silent reading, 108. 

History and civics committee, report 
of, 91-109. 

Hogs, 204, 205, 269-273. 

Horn: Year Book — Spelling, 252. 

Horses, 204. 

Huey: Psychology and Pedagogy of 
Reading, 35, 43- 

Hygiene, report of committee on, 234- 
244; situation in pupils' homes, 
71; See ''Health and Happiness." 

Inductive lesson, 84-86, 88, 90, 164, 

173- 

Industrial Facts, at morning exer- 
cise, 56-57. 

Institutes, teachers', 23-24, 26,33. 

"Institute on wheels," 119. 

Intelligence Quotient, 271-274, 2S1. 

Kennedy : Rural Life and the Rural 
School, 16, 19, 26, 129, 173. 

Kilpatrick: The Project Method, 130, 
131-132, 137-138, 141-144, 146. 



INDEX 



293 



Kilpatrick and others: Symposium 

on Project JNIethod, 14S. 
Knowledge, at morning exercise, 

55- 

Language, games, 80, 88, 90, 225; 

oral composition, 80-82; relation 

of oral reading to, 185, 187; survey, 

79-80; technical grammar, 84-88. 

written composition, 82, 83, 

84. 
LaRue: The Science and the Art of 

Teaching, 90, 157, 244; Psychology 

for Teachers, 181. 
"Lesser Lights," 131, 133, 138. 
Lessons, types of, deductive. 86-87, 

90, 164, 173; inductive, 84-86, 88, 

90, 164, 173; problem or project, 

101-103, 122, 141-144. 
Letter-writing, 83-84, 90. 

McFee : The Teacher, the School, and 
the^Community, 16, 109, 129, 173, 

213. 22,z- 

McMurry: How to Study, 199. 

Manual training, 210-21 1. 

"Median," 29, 36. 

Memorization, 189-199. 

Monroe: Measuring the Results of 
Teaching, 26, 36, 90, 157. 

Morgan: How to Organize a Rural 
Community, 222. 

Morning Exercise, topics covered at, 
arts or skills, 57-58; current opin- 
ion, 55; geographical facts, 56; 
historical facts, 55; industrial 
facts, 56; knowledge; 55; music, 
63-67; report on, 52-66. 

Motive, value of, 180, 246-247. 

Music, at morning exercise, 63-67; 
community, 11 7-1 18; folk songs, 
64-66, 244; relation to exercise, 
236; report on, 63-67; use of 
graphophone, 63, 142, 236. 



Newspaper, school, discussion of, 
225, 230, 250, 253-264; purpose of, 
255-256, 260, 264; specimen pages 
from, 225, 255-256. 

Number Games and Rhymes, Teach- 
ers College Record, 157. 

Nutt: The Supervision of Instruc- 
tion, 36, 45, 264, 290. 

One-year teachers, 22, 26, 167. 
Oral composition. 80-82. 
Organization meeting of community, 

214-222. 

Patriotism, 188-189, 191-197. 

Penmanship, attention in, 180; 
folders, 179; revival, 1 74-181; 
samples of, 176-179; standardized 
tests in, 175. 

Phelan: Peadings in Rural Sociol- 
ogy, 222. 

Physical condition, of pupils, 70, 71; 
of teacher, 73. 

Physiology, 241. 

Pictures, appreciation of, 59-63, 67. 

Pioneers, study of, 93-100. 

Pittman: The \'alue of School 
Supervision, 26, 45, 283, 290. 

Play, value of, 73, 235-238, 244. 

Poetry, kinds of, for different grades, 
199; teaching of, 188-199. 

Posters, hygiene, 240. 244. 

Problems of rural schools, care of 
grounds, 15; discipline, 68-77; 
la(*k of professional appreciation, 
13; lack of social life, 23, 126; 
need for action, 15; one-year 
teachers, 22. 26, 167; the poor 
school and teacher, 22. 

Project method, definition of, 132; 
discussion of, 130-148; types of 
projects, 139-144; in geography, 
159-169; in history, 101-103; in 
reading, 49; in spelling, 122. 



294 



INDEX 



Pryor: Minimal Spelling List, 

246. 
Pryor and Pittman : A Guide to the 

Teaching of Spelling, 129, 252. 

Reading, oral, 38-39, 44, 182-187; 
conditions for, 183-185, 187; re- 
lation to oral composition, 185, 
187; silent, 31, 36, 38, 39, 185; 
at home, 39-40, 43, 49, 185; 
general suggestions on, 31-32; 
speed in, 44, 49; problems in, 49. 

Repetition, 150, 242. 

Responsibility, felt by pupils, 73. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 227; and his 
Country Life Commission, 14, 15, 
16, 201. 

Ross: Social Psychology, 119, 233. 

Salary, of helping-teachers, 285, 289- 
290; of rural school-teachers, 11, 
15, 16, 232, 268, 282, 289. 

School, rural, center of community 
interest, 218, 221; consolidation of , 
169-171, 173; democratic institu- 
tion, 136; term, length of, 11; See 
Problems of. 

Sheridan: Speaking and Writing 
English, 90. 

Silent reading, 31-32, 36, 3S-40, 
43-44, 49, 185. 

Smiling Sheet, 225, 226. 

Spelling, habits, 245-246; matches, 
120-126, 128, 246-250; motiva- 
tion in, 247; relation to other 
subjects, 128; subjects used, 121; 
teaching of, 245-252. 

Stone Reasoning Test, 153-154, 156. 

Strayer: A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process, 90, 264. 

Strayer and Engelhardt : The Class- 
room Teacher, 36. 

Strayer and Norsworthy: How to 
Teach, 36. 



Success, in teaching, 71, 76. 
Supervision, general discussion of, 

17-21; value of, 265-283. 
Supervisor, visit of, 20, 40-42, 45, 

227-229, 257, 263, 264. 

Tables, showing value of supervision, 
275, 276, 278, 279. 

Talent-discoverers, 89, 116, 127, 184. 

Taxes, 115-116, 171. 

Teacher, rural school-, as peda- 
gogical cook, 123-124, 129; as 
talent-discoverer, 89, 116, 127, 
184; importance of work of, 89: 
kind needed, 74, 287; member of 
County Farm Bureau, 212, 213, 
214; one-year, 22, 26, 167; physical 
condition of, 73; rated by certifi- 
cate, 267, 268, 282; salary of, 
II, 15, 16, 232, 268, 282, 289; suc- 
cessful, 71, 76; training of, 74-75; 
work of, 72, 251, 287. 

Teamwork, in the community, gen- 
eral discussion, 110-119, 218-221, 
230; "Institute on wheels," 119; 
music, 117, 118. 

Tests, standardized, 20, 21, 25-36, 
151-156, 175, 177, 178, 271-274. 

Tidyman: Teaching of Spelling, 252. 

van Dyke, Henry: America for 
Me, 191. 

Wheat, 206-209, 213. 

Wilkinson: Rural School Manage- 
ment, 77. 

Wilson: Picture Study in Elemen- 
tary Schools, 67. 

Written composition, 82, 83, 84. 

Zone Pacemaker, discussion of, 225, 
230, 250, 253-264; purpose of, 
255-256, 260, 264: specimen pages 
from, 225, 255-256. 



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